Pannage

Rock and choc: two books with global perspectives

2012-02-02T13:11:00.000Z

I have read two books recently with an unexpected connection. Well, the thought is common as filtered through my geographical mind.

It is not news to me that Keith Richards is a genuine co-credited songwriter and that he resents what he calls lead-vocalist syndrome. In Life he lays his love-hate relationship with Mick Jagger on thick The other key point he repeats is on his drug abuse: 'don't try this at home'. It is also very interesting on the importance of the record producer, other musicians involved and the studio. In this, he is generous to others.

What really struck me was the globe-trotting. Keef is known for news stories in particular locations such as the drug busts in his home-base called Redlands in Sussex and on tour in Toronto. He also de-bunks the press version of when he was seriously injured from a tree fall on Fiji which required brain surgery in New Zealand. It is also a feature of the creative jumble of recording of 'Exile on Main Street' (in 1971) that the Stones were tax-evaders living in different areas in the South of France. His respect for the American blues musicians is poignant. He also makes frequent references to the ordinary beginnings in Dartford, Kent as he moves home-base to Switzerland and Jamaica. Not to forget Chelsea, New York and Los Angeles, of course.

Being seriously rich affords a rootless existence in the modern era if you travel in comfortable style between four or more luxury homes on different continents and earn your living travelling the major cities. However, what does it mean in terms of gaining a world view?

The other book is Chocolate Wars by Deborak Cadbury. This is largely set in the nineteenth century and involves the global confectionary industrialists of Cadbury, Rowntree, Fry, Hershey, Lindt, Suchard. And this means the named people not just their companies. It is fascinating that in a pre-railway era these entrepreneurs travelled the countries of Europe to find out about the new processing techniques being developed by others. Industrial espionage, if you like. It also involves transatlantic journeys.

Ripe cocoa pods Flickr CC
Originally uploaded by IITA Image Library

It is also mind-boggling that the cocoa pods which is only grown in specific climatic conditions and, to this day, has little or no consummer value in those countries. When William Cadbury heard rumours in 1901 that a small percentage of their cocoa source came from two Portuguese colonies where slavery was still taking place he headed off to find out for himself.

Also in 1901, George Cadbury said "Just now it seems to me that speculators, trust mongers, and owners of enormous wealth are the greatest curse of this world and the cause of most of its povertY!"

Overall it is a fascinating story of highly principled and wealthy power-brokers with much of it speaking to our times. It spans morality in supply chains, factory villages, a range of social concerns, responses to war and political newspaper ownership.

Two books: worlds apart, yet universal concerns.

Both recommended.

Richards, Keith (with James Fox) (2010) Life, Phoenix/Orion.
Cadbury, Deborah (2010) Chocolate Wars: from Cadbury to Kraft: 200 years of sweet succes and bitter rivalry, Harper Press.

Funding precipice: baby and bath water

2012-02-01T20:15:00.000Z

I attended two different development education conferenceslast week. Both were interesting in their own way but confirming two sides of the coinof what development education means to me.

The first was a big university event: 120 people.Intro-lecture-lecture. Good stuff. Only a few questions which are treated by the audience as ‘look at me’opportunities. Break into five large groups for two more presentations. Littledialogue, no conversation. Lots of academic language. The panel session at the end had abit of verbal sparring (but less than half the attendance of the morning session). It wasn’t exclusively about formal education and therewere few teachers in attendance but it was mostly opinion (sorry, research) about what other peopleshould do.

The second was the project finale by a small local organisationwith information about the project and the evaluation process in a group ofschools. It had a reflective and modest tone. The real purpose, though, was tohear the young people (Year 9) involved in the project give theirpresentations. These were very impressive, confident and articulate, with onegroup of five delivering off-by-heart. It deserved a much larger audience.

I feel the first category is still being indulged with funding whilethe second type is seriously under threat throughout the country. I feel the first hasonly slight impact on the second but could not exist at all without the genuinehands-on support and guidance work at a grass roots level. I know which is most important and which is most under threat from the lack of funding.

But how is this vital local work tobe sustained?

Development Education Research Centre (DERC), University of London Institute of Education
Development and development education conference
www.ioe.ac.uk/research/150.html
See also
London Global Teacher Network www.lgtn.org.uk/

World Education Development Group (WEDG), Canterbury
"My Dad says..."
www.wedg.org.uk/index.php/news/111-qmy-dad-saysq-conference-and-student-competition-final

Ten places that should exist but don't

2012-01-30T20:49:00.000Z

Ten places that should exist but don't
Lonely Planet

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/england/travel-tips-and-articles/28288

Footpaths and walkways in Great Chart with Singleton

2012-01-16T17:00:00.000Z

View Footpaths and walkways in a larger map

Knowledge navigation for numpties

2012-01-13T14:50:00.000Z

Well, the title is actually

Establishing a Personal Learning Network (PLN) through Social Media

but I have published this 68-page hands-on manual. Further purchasing details here http://www.pannage.com/now/pln-sm/

Please buy copies and write a supportive review here
http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/establishing-a-personal-learning-network-%28pln%29-through-social-media/18812140

Continuing professional development in a fast-changing world needs to be individual and flexible for teachers' requirements. Needs now, and for the future, are specific and wide-ranging. The potential for a personal learning network (PLN) is in your hands.This manual will be applicable for all phases, subjects, aspects of learning and leadership. It will be appropriate for those familiar with or new to social media.It concerns professional participation and engagement. It is actively hands-on.Many examples are given to explore and decide what would be most effective for a continuing plan of action.

Other promotion points you might like to comment on include:

How to cope with what you should know

Get you teaching inspired by people like you

What do you think?

The best-seller I never wrote

2011-12-22T15:32:00.000Z

It is called "Stability: the new dynamic"

See www.pannage.com/2011/12/the-best-seller-i-never-wrote/

Fisherman's Beach, Hythe - artefact 40

2011-12-08T19:43:00.001Z

Fisherman's Beach, Hythe. Water colour.

We have had this painting on our wall for about twenty years having bought it at an art exhibition. By chance, Margaret recently visited someone whose name was familiar and there paintings on the wall. It was the same person and they were later delighted to see this photograph of the painting.

We have another painting of boats on a beach which also gave rise to a story of an extraordinary coincidence. That's for another time.

For the sequence of artefacts click here

Creative Cartography and Photography

2011-12-06T08:42:00.001Z

Creative Cartography: 7 Must-Read Books on Maps
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/01/07/must-read-map-books/

I should just like to add that, just as maps at their best require the high-resolution of printing, this website deserves the size of screen larger than a hand-held device!

I would also like to make it eight...

The Atlas of Experience by Louise van Swaaij and Jean Klare (English text by David Winner)
Pub 2000 by Bloomsbury
Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/Atlas-Experience-Jean-Klare/dp/1582341001

"Scale: unimaginable, Projection: subjective"

Also, more web-distraction from Brain Pickings
The 11 Best Photography Books of 2011
http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/12/05/best-photography-books-2011/

Enjoy!

Mark Zuckerberg: Inside Facebook

2011-12-05T14:50:00.001Z

Well, do you trust Mark Zuckerberg?

Or anyone?

I think I will remain a Facebook sceptic and continue to keep my 'liking' of products and services to a minimum. Meanwhile, I will carry on using Blogger and you can comment, if you like, or subscribe if you want more. The Google ads occupy a little screen space and they are generated by Google related to words it finds in the posts. I have excluded most of the options for different types of adverts. It is clear what is happening if you click on one of those, it gives you their content.

Trust no-one.

Mark Zuckerberg: Inside Facebook
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b017ywty/Mark_Zuckerberg_Inside_Facebook/
On BBC iplayer for six more days only

Also
Facebook's problem: how to make money without annoying people
BBC programme offered a few choice insights into how Facebook is still miles away from solving the puzzle of how to generate substantial advertising income without enraging puntershttp://www.guardian.co.uk/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2011/dec/05/facebook-making-money-annoying-people

And more on those 'mistakes'
Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook founder admits 'bunch of mistakes' amid privacy u-turnhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/8924714/Mark-Zuckerberg-Facebook-founder-admits-bunch-of-mistakes-amid-privacy-u-turn.html

CD album of the year 2011

2011-12-05T10:30:00.000Z

We have just been to see the marvellous St Agnes Fountain again and bought the new Best of... double-CD (2011). See post from last year
http://pannage.blogspot.com/2010/12/st-agnes-fountain-concert.html

Of course, CD purchase is a bit archaic. Increasingly, I am prompted to listen to music, old and new, on Spotify or YouTube - and often it will be listened to once only. A CD purchase is more often where we have seen a live act, and most likely it is not on Spotify at all.

I have been tempted by the Pink Floyd re-issue mega-box-sets but the opportunity to listen to a live performance of Darkside of the Moon for a limited period on their website meant I could satisfy my curiousity and save my money.

The surprise this year for big-act output was the joyous variety of Superheavy - which is a purchase deserving of frequent listening in the car. I also bought the excellent Adele 21 chuffed at my 2008 prediction that she showed more potential than Duffy. REM's Collapse into Now, billed as a return to form, is good but falls short of providing some distinctive new sounds from REM.

My choice for CD this year comes from Broadstairs Folk Week:

Runner up is Robb Johnson - two topical offerings Man Walks into a Pub (2010) and Some Recent Protest Songs (2011),

but my album of the year goes to... "young alternative folk quartet, from Manchester" 4Square's new album Chronicles (which is a play on chronic Les). Talent!

So much music goes unheard - and I knew none on this list, but the internet makes search, listening and finding commentary and background information so much easier. See

BBC Music Writers' Top 25 Albums of 2011
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcmusic/2011/12/bbc_music_writers_top_25_album.html

I liked the Drive-By Truckers.

Boots CRTV50 - artefact 39

2011-12-04T10:38:00.000Z

This black and white television and radio is still used everyday and recently I had to glue one of the switches together: you can't do that with digital. Unfortunately the tape-player is kaput.

The digital switch-over will see its demise soon as it is connected to the UHF aerial.

See also Grundig Music Boy Radio - Artefect 8

For the sequence of artefacts click here

A banker, a school teacher, a Tory MP and a Daily Mail reader...

2011-12-02T14:47:00.001Z

A banker, a school teacher, a Tory MP and a Daily Mail reader are sat around a table.In front of them is a plate, on which there are ten biscuits.

The banker scoffs nine of the biscuits, then the Tory turns to the Daily Mail reader and whispers in his ear, "Watch out - that teacher is after your biscuit."

With thanks to Simon Colbeck and Nora McQuaid via Facebook)

Nora also offers this quote:

"Unions: the people who brought you the weekend. And capped working hours. And employment rights and protections. And fair wages. And pensions. And ended child labour. What a bunch of greedy bastards." - Priyamvada Gopal

Who pays the piper? #UKedchat

2011-11-25T20:48:00.001Z

The online community of school teachers (and others) using Twitter, one of the 'free' tools of the internet, got into a spat this week over who helps run the weekly hour of discussion using the hashtag #UKedchat.

It's good to find that many teachers are still principled and understand that companies pay for a reason. They love the independent, free-spirit of collaboration online. It's CPD on the level and unmoderated.

Meanwhile, companies are struggling to find ways of controlling and monetizing the 'free' areas of social networking. They want to occupy the void from the collapse of LA CPD and advisory services.

Turf wars, of a sort.

#ukedchat #fail: TES attempt takeover cover-up whilst Pearson muscle-in on grassroots Twitter teacher CPD.
http://dougbelshaw.com/blog/2011/11/24/ukedchat-fail/

Guest Post by Pooky – Just to put your minds at rest about #ukedchathttp://www.creativeeducation.co.uk/blog/index.php/2011/11/guest-post-by-pooky-just-to-put-your-minds-at-rest-about-ukedchat/

For more on the deal that is #UKedchat see
http://ukedchat.wikispaces.com
and
http://ukedchat.wordpress.com/

predetermination

2011-11-22T16:06:00.001Z

A plain English guide to the Localism Act - Update15 November 2011
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/localismplainenglishupdate

"Through the Localism Act, the Government has abolished the Standards Board regime. Instead, local authorities will draw up their own codes, and it will become a criminal offence for councillors to deliberately withhold or misrepresent a financial interest. This means that councils will not have to spend time and money investigating trivial complaints, while councillors involved in corruption and misconduct will face appropriately serious sanctions. This provides a more effective safeguard against unacceptable behaviour.

Clarifying the rules on predetermination

In parallel with the abolition of the Standards Board, the Government has used the Localism Act to clarify the rules on ‘predetermination’. These rules were developed to ensure that councillors came to council discussions - on, for example, planning applications - with an open mind. In practice, however, these rules had been interpreted in such a way as to reduce the quality of local debate and stifle valid discussion. In some cases councillors were warned off doing such things as campaigning, talking with constituents, or publicly expressing views on local issues, for fear of being accused of bias or facing legal challenge.The Localism Act makes it clear that it is proper for councillors to play an active part in local discussions, and that they should not be liable to legal challenge as a result. This will help them better represent their constituents and enrich local democratic debate. People can elect their councillor confident in the knowledge that they will be able to act on the issues they care aboutand have campaigned on." (page 8)

we have not built enough new homes

2011-11-21T19:16:00.001Z

Laying the Foundations: A Housing Strategy for England
"The problems we face are stark – we have not built enough new homes for more than a generation and the impact of the credit crunch has simply compounded this challenge."

http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/2033676.pdf

Ashford's M20 pedestrian bridge: "Eureka Skyway"

2011-11-17T18:39:00.001Z

What's in a name?

Place-making is an in-exact science. Would it have been better to wait for a preferred name to emerge by community consensus?

Ashford M20 footbridge named as the Eureka Skyway
"the judges selected Eureka Skyway – one of no less than 76 namesput forward by sports journalist Neil Wolfson – feeling the namewas striking, modern and easily recognisable."
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kentonline/news/2011/november/17/ashford_m20_footbridge.asp x

The comments under this item continue to snipe at the cost - and the need.

I am sure they missed a trick by not making the bridge a big A-shape. Instead, it's a lop-sided V-shape. It's a V-sign from or to Ashford. Which?

See also blogpost http://pannage.blogspot.com/2011/10/ashford-m20-suspension-bridge-opened.html

Music that is on a different plane

2011-11-06T22:06:00.001Z

Archive piece

Letter to The Guardian, 6 December 1999
Music that is on a different plane
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/1999/dec/06/guardianletters1

NB email account no longer valid.

Most viewed on Flickr

2011-11-06T21:54:00.000Z

This cliff-fall is the most viewed image in my photostream - Barton on Sea (September 2008)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/angus-willson/2902951910/

Ashford M20 suspension bridge opened

2011-10-30T19:47:00.002Z

The much-delayed pedestrian bridge opened this weekend. At last!

Iconic or ironic?

It provides a mighty-fine route from the town centre into the Eureka Leisure Park.

This is the same view as those taken in May 2011 when the bridge sections were lifted into place.
See more on Flickr photostream from here

See May 2011 post Ashford M20 suspension bridge installed
http://pannage.blogspot.com/2011/05/ashford-m20-suspension-bridge-installed.html

Tragic footnote 6 November 2011
A motorway closure was last night was reportedly caused by the first attempted suicide from the bridge.

Eight radical solutions to the housing crisis

2011-10-25T09:34:00.000+01:00

Thanks to Rob Chambers @RobGeo for this link

Eight radical solutions to the housing crisis

By Tom de Castella, BBC News Magazine, 25 October 2011
Pressure to address the UK's housing crisis grows ever stronger, with a number of radical solutions being put forward to ease the strain.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15400477

Encourage elderly out of big houses
Freestyle planning
Contain population growth
Force landlords to sell or let empty properties
Ban second homes
Guarantee mortgage payments
Live with extended family
Build more council homes

173 comments at the time of posting - and counting.
However, there's not much sign of self-less understanding!

Cornwall cliff collapse film

2011-10-24T12:45:00.000+01:00

I saw this film clip through a tweet link but the BBC story gives the camera operator's work role...

Cornwall cliff collapse film was 'career highlight'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15251292

Why Chomsky is wrong about Twitter

2011-10-24T10:33:00.001+01:00

Why Chomsky is wrong about Twitter
When the linguist claims that social media is "shallow," he isn't very deep or convincing
By Nathan Jurgenson
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/23/why_chomsky_is_wrong_about_twitter/singleton/

Tweeting for Teachers - report

2011-10-24T09:49:00.001+01:00

There is an unresolved tension in the whole interwebbie thing between the independent and the organised. For the individual much of being online is liberating, from geek-coders and enthused-musos to politico-pundits there is a personal freedom from intense supervision. By contrast it is all largely dependent on the controlling hand of the familiar global corporate fiefdoms. Ironically, people from the first category have been responsible for creating the second.

I was reminded of this paradox while attending the launch of a publication called "Tweeting for teachers: how can social media support teacher professional development?" at the the Pearson Centre for Policy and Learning. It was presented by the authors Julie McCulloch, Ewan McIntosh and Tom Barrett.

I hope it is not heresy to make the observation that most tweeting and blogging teachers seem to me to be the independent-minded, free-spirited types - not the ones likely to seek or need permission or support from the school hierarchy. (You know if I mean you.) To many, the professional development (PLN) aspect has been about taking control of your own destiny. The channels to share and collaborate (OK, and boast a little, too) are not moderated by the immediate boss or some more distant thought-police or editorial team. The report even calls these teachers 'trailblazers'.

Then the flip-side which interests me: the report makes recommendations in the Ofsted-style of "Leaders should..." and "Policy-makers should..." Nevermind that the current government is trying to be less prescriptive and demanding upon schools, it is evident that many others are willing to take over this role. How about using could to confirm the role of professional discretion?

Twitter can enable professional conversations. Let's not over-organise it. Let's not add it to the many information-based hose-pipes.

An illustration helps, as ever:

Source: 'Bill' at Participatory Learning http://www.flickr.com/photos/49653615@N00/4288801363/

Even the headteacher speaker was hierarchy-bound in suggesting "if the boss doesn't go for it, you don't do it" although there was more sense in saying we need to undersatnd social media to understand the world of the learners - and that schools are slow-moving.

The launch had a good range of speakers but fair play to one of the six teachers who pointed out that there were only six teachers out of about sixty people present.

Philippa Cordingley, of CUREE, made very some useful research-based points on CPD including 'reflective practice is useless unless shared' and, stating the case for expert-interventions, 'without tension there is no learning'.

Stephen Fahey, Learning Technologies Director at Pearson, concluded by saying 'we had to be curious and experimental' - and that is what I see in the teacher tweeters and bloggers.

Details of my course on PLN and Social Media: http://www.pannage.com/now/pln-sm/

Reference:http://www.pearsoncpl.com/2011/10/tweeting-for-teachers-how-can-social-media-support-teacher-professional-development/

Direct to PDF:http://www.pearsoncpl.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Tweeting-for-teachers.pdf

Added:
Thoughtful post by Oliver Quinlan referring to "a culture of professionals choosing their own priorities and shaping their own landscape for development" - self-organised CPD:
http://www.oliverquinlan.com/blog/2011/10/24/tweeting-teachers-self-organised-cpd/

Added:
A post outlining project under-way by Phil Wood...
Social media, learning and complexity
"social media and Web 2.0 are perhaps capable of supplying a consistent, positive stream of informal professional development which has greater utility and meaning to participants than would be the case in predetermined and ‘planned’ CPD."
http://learning-space.tumblr.com/post/11870965711/social-media-learning-and-complexity
Phil refers to Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) and links to a Youtube clip from this post
http://learning-space.tumblr.com/post/11871016914/really-good-introduction-to-moocs-possible-next
Interesting!

Parish Council Meeting 18 October 2011

2011-10-20T20:17:00.003+01:00

After the second round of elections, the new Parish Councillors were briefed about the code of conduct and signed the Acceptance of Office papers.

At the start there was an attempt to make a point on behalf of those who had previously declined to sign the Acceptance of Office.

The business was then conducted in accordance with usual procedure.

Towards the end of the meeting there was a further indication that the six new councillors were acting together to set part of the agenda for their specific purposes in the next meeting.

Rather than wait for the next meeting, they have since demanded an extraordinary meeting of the parish council which will take place against the advice of the clerk.

Parish Minutes

Pyrolysis/Gasification plant

2011-10-20T16:47:00.000+01:00

Picture Source

Can this be proposed by Kent County Council for the top of Singleton Hill without consultation?

Proposed restoration of the former landfill site and the subsequent use of the site for the construction of a 7MW Pyrolysis/Gasification plant with ancillary outbuildings and hard standing.
11/00009/EIA/AS
http://planning.ashford.gov.uk/Planning/details.aspx?systemkey=91311

What it will do...
Gasification
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasification

A more detailed consideration of possibilities and limitations...
Pyrolysis, gasification and plasma
September 2009, FOE Briefing
http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/gasification_pyrolysis.pdf

Details (including pics) from another venue...
Bristol approves pyrolysis and gasification plant, 14 October 2010
http://www.letsrecycle.com/news/latest-news/waste-management/bristol-approves-pyrolysis-and-gasification-plant

"Independent information, analysis and reviews for energy and waste management professionals + students"
http://gasification4energy.com/

Richborough, Kent (source of image above)
http://www.richboroughenergypark.co.uk/proposals/pyrolysis-plant-gasification

Parish Council election result 10 October 2011

2011-10-09T08:58:00.000+01:00

In July I avoided further comment on the Parish Council meeting and we had another meeting on 12 September which managed to avoid the previous aggravation. With the procedures demanding vacancies to be posted and an election on 6 October, it has remained an uncertain time for the Council.

The shadowy forces behind the original six candidates has continued to mis-represent the importance of signing the Acceptance of Office and the Code of Conduct. Each of them decided not to sign, but their embarrassment has been covered over by their spokesman's fabrications and lies.

The Chilmington Green interest-group put up a different set of candidates under the banner of 'Putting Voters First' and referring to their opposition to the proposed development. This group has now given it the catchy name of the Great Chart and Singleton to Shadoxhurst and Bethersden New Town. This is a giant exaggeration of local geography, of course.

In addition to continued trouble-making behind the scenes, their publicity material has become increasingly inaccurate and offensive. It describes the Parish Council as "a pro-development group", "a dysfunctional private members club" and a "clique of individuals desperate to hold onto power and pursue their development interests".

Clearly, they have not tried to understand me or read anything on this website!

They appear to have made their impression in the local area as the election has put six of their ilk back into the frame. (see below)

I will be interested to see what they are 'for', if anything. As I said before... let's see.

The Parish Council meets again on 10 Ocober 2011.

Great Chart with Singleton South (3 vacancies)
Peter Barker - 88
Carol Brunger - 117
Mike Chappell - 96
Jon Clarke - 50
Ian Hawkes - 41
Ann-Louise Henderson - 195 - ELECTED
Matthew Hopkins - 176 - ELECTED
Kevin Paxton - 171 - ELECTED
Ken Standish - 111

Great Chart with Singleton North (3 vacancies)
Yolanda Barker - 154
Margaret Cook - 316 - ELECTED
Geoff Darville - 128
Nicola Hawkes - 95
Karen Hopkins - 261 - ELECTED
Sarah Stanfield - 304 - ELECTED

Parish Minutes

Tweetmap

2011-10-04T11:57:00.000+01:00

I was directed to Tweetmap by a tweet. It's interesting that 2.5% of my followers are in Kent, Washington, USA. What do they not understand?

With apologies to followers in Dundee and Aberdeen...

www.tweetmap.com

Dunmow - artefact 38

2011-09-29T19:29:00.001+01:00

A concrete pig, named Dunmow (as in Flitch of bacon wikipedia), which does not reside on the lawn but inside the house on our brick hearth. The sharp-eyed will have noticed this as the background to my Twitter page for years.

No apologies for another pig as we do have quite a few.

We do deserve the award of a flitch of bacon, of course, but we do not eat pigs.

See the other Artefacts curated within this blog http://pannage.blogspot.com/search/label/artefact

PLN & Twitter

2011-09-29T09:02:00.000+01:00

PLN and Social Media
http://www.pannage.com/now/pln-sm/

Personal Learning Networks and Social Media

“You know what? #ukedchat and Twitter make me think a lot harder about my teaching than any course I’ve ever attended.”
Ian Addison, Primary school ICT coordinator

8 December 2011 and 9 February 2012
9am – 4pm
Tower Hamlets PDC, English Street, London E3 4TA
Outcomes:
1.   Understanding the potential of your personal learning network (PLN)
2.   Understanding professional use of social media tools
3.   A plan for implementing a PLN through social media
Activities – this session will include:
1.   Defining your PLN
2.   Selecting websites
3.   Using discussion forums
4.   Blogging and micro-blogging
5.   Taking care with your online profile
This course will be applicable for all phases, subjects aspects of learning and leadership. It will be appropriate for those familiar with or new to social media.
It concerns professional participation and engagement. It will be actively hands-on.
Digital Learning
Subscribers to Tower Hamlets Schools Library Services: £95
Others: £125
Course code: HEC 15/11

“Schools should create sufficient time for staff to undertake relevant professional development
and to discuss and reflect on what they have learnt.”
Good Professional Development in Schools, Ofsted

Download: Establishing a Personal Learning Network 08Dec11 for details and booking slip (doc)

Social media has a poor sense of place

2011-09-20T16:42:00.000+01:00

The internet and the supposed diminishing significance of place is another matter altogether, but

Have you notice how poor social media is at locating people and places?

LinkedIn wants to locate me by the first two letters of my postcode TN for Tonbridge, Kent - forty miles away and somewhere I have been twice in 25 years. I noticed that Alan Parkinson @GeoBlogs who hangs out in hyperspace and occasionally touches reality in rural Norfolk has a LinkedIn location of Peterborough.

Alan's living geography blog has one of those 'live traffic feed' widgets which tells you where people arrived from - I don't know why. Prior to BT Infinity this would use my ISP and place me in Bracknell or Brentwood. It now chooses to place me in Basingstoke, Hampshire.

And don't get me started again on the frustrations of pin-pointing photographs in the useless mapping provided in Flickr.

In the village near us, home of the Hoodeners Horse, Google Maps used to locate a third pub on some allotments where there is no building and never has been.

When the national television news finishes and they say 'and now for the news where you are' how do they know where I am?

I haven't a clue where I am!

Chris Leslie Glasgow Renaissance

2011-09-20T10:45:00.000+01:00

I have been delighted to work on a project called Colliers Green Focus with Richard Chivers, a professional photographer. A small part of that project is to show young people what a photographer does.

Richard works commercially http://www.rchivers.co.uk/
ARCHITECTURE, INTERIORS CONTEMPORARY LANDSCAPE

and with a group called Human Endeavour http://www.humanendeavour.co.uk/
CONTEMPORARY URBAN AND INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY

In turn, they have linked up with Chris Leslie who has produced some stunning pieces on Glasgow - or Sighthill and and Dalmarnock to be more precise - in the next stage of Glasgow's regeneration for the Commonwealth Games 2014.

Chris Leslie Glasgow Renaissance
http://humanendeavourphoto.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/chris-leslie-glasgow-renaissance-2/

Politics of place

2011-09-19T08:51:00.002+01:00

Good twitter-steer from @juliandobson: Excellent piece by Madeleine Bunting on the politics of place:

"As strong as faith and race, it is place that defines our sense of identity
The politics of belonging is stronger than ever – you can see it from Dale Farm to Devon and Windermere to Westfield" Madeleine Bunting, 18 September 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/18/travellers-political-geography-place-belonging

There's an intersting quote from Ron Johnston, geographer, on the constituency changes:

"The crime is not of the Boundary Commission's making – it was given an impossible task, with a set of criteria passed by parliament. Constituencies had to be equal in population numbers, with a deviation of only 5%. It's what Professor Ron Johnston at Bristol university calls "moving from an organic geography to an arithmetic one". It is place as bean counters see it: a matter of numbers rather than the ties of attachment and identity, history and economy."

The final paragraph about Westfield at Stratford reads:

"The name of one phone shop, Everything, Everywhere, neatly sums up the mall's ambition. It lays claim to the abolition of constraints of time, space and resources to human appetite (the one implicit constraint is money). It's a compelling fantasy for millions but dangerous – obviously so on environmental grounds, but also because it represents how the loss of geography leaves consumers dazzled and disorientated, and ultimately docile rootless fodder for global corporate power."

Powerful stuff. And not the geography of oxbow-lakes.

Lydd Airport Expansion

2011-09-15T20:27:00.001+01:00

I was lurking on a twitter exchange between @ProtectKent and @BenHartDS a local town councillor - and then tried to add a point about the differences between vested interests, bias (declared or otherwise) and multiple-perspectives.

There has been a public inquiry running for most of the year, interrupted by August, but just coming to a close.

Anyway, here are some links to give some background.

Shepway District Council - Lydd Airport Inquiry (also lists documents submitted by the organisations below)
http://www.shepway.gov.uk/content/view/201117/54

The programe officer for the inquiry inspector (Shepway Council site)
http://www.shepway.gov.uk/content/view/201040/211/

London Ashford Airport - Expansion
http://www.lydd-airport.co.uk/expansion.html

"Amongst the recognised benefits of an expanded Lydd Airport operation are:
A viable solution to increasing UK demand for air transport
Providing a local airport for business and domestic flights
Providing local jobs for local people
Regeneration of Romney Marsh and boosting tourism in Kent & East Sussex"

Lydd Airport Action Group
"LAAG represents people who are opposed to the expansion of Lydd Airport."
http://www.kentnet.org.uk/laag/
But Facebook is more upto date:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lydd-Airport-Action-Group-LAAG/

Keep the Marsh Special alliance (website looks static at 2009)
"Objectives; To prevent Lydd Airport expanding from 5000 passengers per annum now to 2 million by 2011 and 6 million by 2021."
http://www.lyddairport-noexpansion.co.uk/

RSPB on Lydd Airport concernnig the reserve at Dungeness
http://www.rspb.org.uk/ourwork/casework/details.aspx?id=tcm:9-227827

Kent Wildlife Trust
http://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/our-work/planning-and-development/lydd-airport/

CPRE - Protect Kent
http://www.protectkent.org.uk/

Damian Collins MP on Lydd Airport Inquiry
http://www.damiancollins.com/2011/07/lydd-airport-inquiry/

And my views? In a geographical sense, I think the name 'London Ashford Airport' is ridiculous. The proximity to the nuclear power stations, the RSPB site and other unique features of Dungeness is a too-critical risk. Rural employment does need support, but it will not get much for the impacts of this proposal. It doesn't have the size or infrastructure already in place at Manston airport near Thanet. There are wider economic issues at an international scale but these do not necessarily make a case in favour. Anyway, air traffic will reduce very soon, especially for short journeys, when the real costs of fuel kick in. Just because we can fly doesn't mean we should.

Also read an Oct 2010 Post on Dungeness Nuclear Power station site
http://pannage.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-nucleat-station-at-dungeness-in.html

Rodin's The Kiss

2011-09-14T16:54:00.002+01:00

I'm looking forward to seeing this again at the Turner Contemporary, Margate.

http://www.turnercontemporary.org/exhibitions/rodin-s-the-kiss

"From 4 October 2011 - 2 September 2012 Auguste Rodin’s life-size marble sculpture The Kiss (1901-04) will be installed in our Sunley Gallery.

On loan from the Tate collection and one of the most iconic images of sexual love, The Kiss was voted the nation’s favourite work of art in a 2003 poll. The embracing couple come from a true thirteenth century story of forbidden love, which was immortalised in Dante’s Inferno and by many artists since.

The couple are the adulterous lovers Paolo Malatesta and Francesca da Rimini, who were slain by Francesca’s outraged husband. They appear in Dante’s Inferno, which describes how their passion grew as they read the story of Lancelot and Guinevere together. At the time, the perceived eroticism of Rodin’s sculpture was controversial leading to instances where the work was removed from public view."

Personally, it always reminds me of Monty Python who had that right hand playing a tune on her thigh.

PMs education speech

2011-09-13T12:31:00.002+01:00

Friday 9 September 2011
Prime Minister David Cameron has outlined his vision for the education system at a visit to a newly-opened free school in Norwich.
http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/pms-speech-on-education-2/

I don't agree with the policy of centrally-funded the so-called 'free schools' to 'drive up standards'. In principle, I am not against experimentation in education when recognised as such but this policy has been largely about pandering to the media and certain old-mates.

This part of the government's argument is rarely given coverage:

"Because the truth is this: it is not just failing schools we need to tackle. It is coasting schools, too: the ones whose results have either flat-lined, or where they haven’t improved as much as they could have done. Just take this fact. Take two schools: Burlington Danes Academy and Walworth Academy. They are both in relatively deprived parts of inner London. They have got a very high proportion of children on free school meals. But you know what? Last year, 70 per cent of children at Walworth and 75 per cent of children at Burlington Danes got five or more good GCSEs including English and Maths – 70 and 75 per cent. Deprived areas of London, high levels of free school meals – that is what they achieved.

Now, compare that with Surrey and Oxfordshire – the two counties that Michael and I have the privilege to represent in Parliament. Only 16 secondary state schools in these two relatively affluent counties did better than those two inner-city schools. Let me put that the other way round: more than four out of five state schools in Surrey and Oxfordshire are doing worse than two state schools in relatively deprived parts of inner London. That must be a wake-up call: a wake-up call to parents, to teachers, that there is a huge opportunity, not just to raise standards in our inner cities, which we are doing and is absolutely vital for social mobility, but an opportunity to raise standards right across our country. In many parts of our country where people think the schools are doing a good job, they are, but they could be doing so much better. That is what those figures tell us, and this government wants to drive that change."

Geographical Association Curriculum Consultation

2011-09-08T09:57:00.000+01:00

Response to Geographical Association Curriculum Consultation

see www.geography.org.uk/getinvolved/geographycurriculumconsultation

Document at www.geography.org.uk/download/GA_GIGCCCurriculumProposals.pdf

PART ONE: STATEMENTS

Please read the consultation document, then tell us howstrongly you feel about the following statements:

I find that the distinction between Kn1, Kn2, and Kn3 ishelpful for teachers (Section 1)