tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46970888794188051532024-03-14T18:43:45.722+13:00A science teacher's thoughts on life, the universe and everything...Thoughts from a NZ science teacher and digital learning fanboy. I like to let my mind wander and sometimes it even comes back...Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-69287188700485851592024-01-19T19:24:00.002+13:002024-03-07T13:19:33.045+13:00A social dilemmaI am in a quandry. I am not a great fan of most social media, but feel I need to air my thoughts on here. My favourite of all time was Google+ (or G+, then Currents as it became). I was connected to so many cool educators and we talked about awesome stuff. Then Google killed it, with no alternative to turn to.I have had a Twitter account for 12 years, with thousands of interactions. I killed it Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-22095696876527969322023-10-24T22:13:00.001+13:002023-10-24T22:13:26.610+13:00A year on: catching upGood grief, really a year since I updated this blog? My inspiration has been that I don't feel I've been reflecting (on anything...) enough and need to get going again.I have redirected (hopefully) my custom domain back to this blog, after all it was pointing to a Google Site before, with this blog embedded and exactly the same content on both. What is the point? So, until I can afford a Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0Whangārei, New Zealand-35.7274938 174.3165604-64.037727636178843 139.1603104 -7.4172599638211523 -150.52718960000004tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-40478487145043984962022-10-22T11:49:00.002+13:002023-10-24T22:14:25.110+13:00Falling behind I've neglected my personal digital stuff for a long time. I haven't posted anything on here for so long it's ridiculous, and having just paid for my website renewal for the next two years, I realised I haven't done anything there either. Bogged down with work, doing the Earth and Space Educators of NZ stuff and the Morris dancing side websites as well, so have really not been showing my Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-45065834141122015022021-07-05T14:11:00.000+12:002021-07-05T14:11:04.502+12:00Digital hoarder Hi, my name is Nick and I am a digital hoarder. There, I've taken step one.From the WSJI stopped to take stock of my digital 'stuff' recently and came to the conclusion I have way too many links, bookmarks, saved pages etc than I can ever get through. Just a quick stocktake - I have several thousand bookmarks across my personal and work accounts for a starter.Then there are the saved pages Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-62011100710820743842020-12-17T17:01:00.005+13:002024-01-19T15:24:28.443+13:00Planning - a nightmare...I used to have the ubiquitous black planner when I started teaching and this was carted around to each of my lessons (I'm not sure why...) Since I decided that this was not a good idea, I have played with various digital solutions instead, as this is more accessible (and portable) and also has in-built flexibility.My problem is, I can't decide what system to use, and spend more time than I shouldNick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-6065472007557005922020-11-18T20:53:00.002+13:002020-11-18T20:53:29.411+13:00 I really wanted to use this to record what I am up to in my classroom, and yet here I am again not having done my reflections for quite some time. There never seems to be enough hours in the week to keep on top of everything, and Arinui has fallen by the wayside too. Added to which, this has been the year of COVID and things have been wayward to say the least.I have spent a lot more time Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-51306698860819948442020-04-23T20:14:00.002+12:002020-04-23T20:14:44.652+12:00Isolation reflections
I have been fortunate with this lockdown in that I already have a suite of tools to use in remote learning and my courses lend themselves to students working on their own and just checking in when they need help.
It has still been trying (motivation has been lacking, and I help the staff at our school get going with online/ digital learning which has been demanding). The other thing that I Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-50987254799538301902020-03-17T21:31:00.000+13:002020-03-17T21:31:26.008+13:00Interesting times...
Today, the stats on the COVID19 pandemic are 182,834 infected, 7174 dead and 79.885 recovered (from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries) working out to about 8% mortality rate on average (despite the fact that most of these deaths are in China, Iran and Italy. It is worrying a lot of people, causing panic among others (toilet paper panic buying - I mean, why??)
One ofNick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-27919619913655197112020-03-03T21:11:00.001+13:002020-03-03T21:11:31.939+13:002020 beginnings
We are already into week 6 of term 1 and I haven't got near this up to this point, so I feel I need to do some catch ups.
It has been a crazy manic start, but when isn't it? I had six field trips to get sorted, which seems to get more complicated annually. I understand this is for the students' safety, but it can detract from the fun of getting out and doing science in the wild as it were...
Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0Whangarei, New Zealand-35.7251117 174.323708-35.931395699999996 174.0009995 -35.5188277 174.64641650000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-59155255035732600242019-08-08T18:39:00.000+12:002019-12-11T16:58:28.389+13:00Priority Drive folder
This arrived just this week in my Drive (only on Domains, not Gmail accounts). It just appeared, so I thought it must be time to have a play, and I have to say, so far I rather like it.
The usual prioritised documents that Drive things one might like are still there (the one feature I am not keen on; normally I have this off in the options) but now there are workspaces which you can add Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0Whangarei, New Zealand-35.7251117 174.323708-35.9313977 174.00098450000002 -35.5188257 174.6464315tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-85386289175235872942019-07-25T15:03:00.001+12:002020-03-03T21:26:55.869+13:00Chromebook challenge update
I failed. I was trying to use nothing but my Chromebook (actually an Acer Tab 10 and an old HP running Cloud Ready Chromium OS).
What worked: planning lessons, sharing on Classroom, all of the usual bits and pieces, even showing videos and slides - just as expected. The HP connected to the projector and worked.
The issues: the Tab 10 cannot connect to external projectors (as mentioned in the Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-70391686673641011462019-07-23T20:45:00.000+12:002019-07-23T20:45:46.027+12:00The Chromebook challenge
No, not eating a Chromebook or any of the other daft challenges that make it onto the interwebs.
I am going to try and do a complete week without my school lease laptop. First ideas were that I could get by without my Windows-based Lenovo, nice though it is. After all, I teach using Google tools and lots of other digital stuff, but can I really do everything I need in the classroom?
My Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-27286545490004228522019-05-21T18:37:00.000+12:002019-05-27T21:40:42.691+12:00Planet Earth and Beyond: Some reflections
For people who don’t know me too well, I am a bit passionate in a very amateur way about astronomy and geology. Currently, I am teaching ESS to my y10s (Earth Science), my y11s (Life on Mars course) and my y12s (looking into the technology to keep astronauts alive in space).
The y10s get to research an Earth Science event in NZ, not too difficult with approximately 20,000 earthquakes in NZ inNick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-34908206637219824512019-05-21T18:35:00.003+12:002019-05-21T18:35:51.298+12:00Feeling Energised!
On 4th May 2019, I attended the Google Certified Innovator Energiser at Google’s offices in Sydney (photos below…) I reconnected with a lot of people who are important to me and made some new connections too. I look forward to seeing what this cohort do from here; there are some very driven graduands and I wish them well!
I have been a GCI since 2013 (SYD), and this was the first Energiser I Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-9931011542884074422019-02-09T13:36:00.000+13:002019-05-18T23:21:26.659+12:00Come on baby, light my (Bunsen burner) fire
In 2019, I got assigned a year 9 Science class, something I specifically did not want. Mainly because I have focused mostly on developing the year 10 stuff and I haven't really got much in the way of resources or lessons for the year 9s. This means I am now busy planning what I need to work on to make sure I keep our classes fun.
One of the units we do is Introduction to Science, and part of Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com4Whangarei, New Zealand-35.7251117 174.323708-35.9313977 174.00098450000002 -35.5188257 174.6464315tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-40340434212274748742018-06-12T13:36:00.000+12:002018-06-12T13:36:18.917+12:00Culturally Responsive and Relational Pedagogy in practice
The research is out there; Māori learners are not performing as well as European / pākehā, leading to headlines like these, all relatively recent:
Teachers contributing to Māori under-achievement
Ministry urges bold step for Māori education
Education experts say New Zealand needs major shake-up to boost the achievement rates of Māori
As a teacher in New Zealand, this hurts my heart. Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-45965628908306363912018-05-13T19:29:00.003+12:002018-05-13T19:29:27.482+12:00I wanna rock!!
**This post was originally made in Wordpress on March 13th 2018**
Back to the song titles for posts, with thanks to Twisted Sister for this one!
Now to explain the relevance of the post title. This year I have started an Earth and Space Course at Level 2 (Year 12). This is something of a passion that I have had the privilege to indulge this year. The course includes a geological study of Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-17835951899206545552018-05-12T11:19:00.004+12:002018-05-12T11:26:57.268+12:00Student blogging
**This is not a new post, but I have reposted it from my Wordpress account.**
This is a new thing for me; my year 13 Environmental Biology class are carrying out an action plan this year, around the local environment. As a change from keeping a paper logbook and submitting this at the end of the unit, they are recording their work in a blog.
We are using Blogger as the platform, mainly as we Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-40844590184260527452017-08-13T17:59:00.002+12:002017-08-13T18:05:59.814+12:00Pond Life
I couldn't find a Pond song title, so have decided this is good enough.
This post is about the Pond, a New Zealand (N4L - Network 4 Learning) website that allows educators and providers to connect and share resources and findings from around the web. It also allows you to curate collections of resources in Buckets. This is the bit that has suddenly lit up the light bulb for me.
One (Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-27278665741398919262017-07-08T22:23:00.000+12:002017-07-08T22:25:34.903+12:00Land of confusion
Whether you are a young whippersnapper and thought instantly of the Disturbed song, or are a little longer in the tooth and remember the original (with Spitting Image created video) from Genesis, it is basically describing a whole load of things about the way I am thinking currently.
The first is that after a hiatus and brief dalliance with Wordpress, I am coming back to this blog. I am Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-63263470106521053582016-10-24T18:55:00.001+13:002016-10-24T18:55:08.367+13:00This is the end, my only friend, the end...
Well, I haven't used a song title for a blog post for ages, so good to get back on form... A gentle nod to The Doors in case you were wondering.
It has now been nearly 32 weeks since I signed up for the MindLab Post Grad Certificate, and in all honesty, I have really not enjoyed it. The assessments have been a bit like being caught in a huge wave, you just about get back on your feetNick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-74821974976208004782016-10-16T20:48:00.003+13:002016-10-16T20:48:50.443+13:00Interdisciplinary teaching and learning - fabulous or fantasy?
This is going to be the blog post that causes me the most difficulty, in terms of trying to find a positive, when really I want to throw my hands up and run away. I love the idea of interdisciplinary teaching, and the benefits that accompany this pedagogy, BUT I am also a realist. In senior Science subjects, it is uncommon even for collaboration between Biology, Physics and Chemistry on Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-79681817124667678152016-10-12T19:09:00.005+13:002016-10-12T19:09:27.258+13:00All of a Twitter - the impact of social media in my PLD
John Donne once wrote, "no man is an island, entire of itself" (from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, published in 1624) and this is true now as then, especially in the world of the 21st Century educator. In the current climate of budget cuts, teachers have to look beyond their own schools for their PLD needs and are turning more and more to social media to extend their learning.
There Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0Whangarei, New Zealand-35.7251117 174.323708-35.9313977 174.00098450000002 -35.5188257 174.6464315tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-12071844415793001072016-10-02T19:55:00.001+13:002016-10-05T18:49:44.358+13:00Post 5 - Legal and ethical contexts in my digital practice
I started at my current school just over a year ago. Upon arrival in one of my classes, I was told by the teacher temporarily looking after what was to be my classes until my arrival that my students had already checked me out on social media, and had a basic idea who I was. My first thought was "where and how did they find me?" quickly followed by "what did they find?" In answer to the Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4697088879418805153.post-68853742464827367022016-10-02T17:48:00.002+13:002016-10-02T17:48:57.259+13:00MindLab 4 - Indigenous knowedge and cultural responsiveness
The school I work at has a large percentage of Māori students, although Europeans / Pākehā make up the majority of the students. (Stats taken from the ERO website, last inspection May 2016).
In a video about Culturally Responsive Pedagogy, Professor Russell Bishop discusses 6 factors that agentic teachers, those who reject the deficit theory (defining Māori students by their Nick Majorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09541743727371685212noreply@blogger.com0