As part of our Year 8 Human Technologies curriculum, we are asking students to consider not only the nature of truth, but also different types of truth (e.g. scientific, poetic, individual, etc). As one activity on poetic truth, we played students four songs, and asked …
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Other Resources
Poetic Truth
Exemplar Me vs Me
In consider the topic of digital citizenship, and refecting on their own identity and participation in online platforms, I ask my students to create a piece of design work called Me vs. Me. Most students follow my lead and use raster editing software (such …
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Epic Wallpapers 3
This is a third collection of wonderful Epic Wallpapers produced by my year 7 students. The pieces were chosen for the strength of their designs, attention to detail, Creative Commons licensing and overall appeal. Well done to the students for creating such lovely work. Feel …
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Epic Wallpapers 2
This is a second collection of wonderful Epic Wallpapers produced by my year 7 students. The design were chosen for the strength of their designs, attention to detail, Creative Commons licensing and overall appeal. Well done to the students for creating such lovely work. Feel …
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It’s Complicated
danah boyd‘s It’s Complicated (full PDF) is a book which seeks to change the way we view teenagers and their use of digital technology. Viewed as a vulnerable demographic, teens, it is commonly believed, need our protection to thrive. At the same …
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Epic Wallpers
In Year 7, my students undertake a short unit of work called Epic Wallpaper, in which they attempt to make a glossy wallpaper using Acorn and some graphic design techniques. This is the first year I have run this unit, and it went very …
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The Namoa Pirates
Having grown up in Hong Kong, thinking about colonialism and imperialism quickly gives me a headache. At the root of this is an unbridgeable sense of cognitive dissonance: on the one hand these two forces created an amazing city which I love as my home, …
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Old & Rare Photos
This collection of fantastic old images was shared with me by my father-in-law, and is too good not to share onwards. Sadly, I could not find a web-based version of the list, so I have decided to host them here. Enjoy, a visual feast of …
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Remix Examples
Remix is one of my favourite contemporary art forms, and something that all of my students study. What could be better than making something new out of someone elses media creations? If you get into remix enough, you even find yourself starting to agree with Kirby Ferguson's assertion that Everything Is A Remix.
Today I was updating my remix playlist, which I show students at the start of year. I thought I would share some of my favourites. Please feel free to add suggestions in the comments section:
If you are interested in the legal side of remix, you might want to watch Copyleft: A Teacher’s Guide To Sharing (of course, remixing with Creative Commons is the best way to go, but sometimes fair use has to be invoked if we want to critique companies and governments.
2 Minute Warning
Earlier this year I asked my Year 8 students to record a 2 minute warning to their parents, aiming to highlight risks which they might face online. This piece of work followed several smaller tasks (such as Me vs Me), and lots of discussions, regarding digital citizenship, what being online means and how we can stay safe. Of all the excellent pieces submitted, I was most taken by work of Chloe, who I believed manage to convey a lot of meaning in an easy to understand message:
Chloe runs a nice blog where she posts some of her other work, if you are interested in taking a look.