The Teacher Toolbox

My brother Damien died when I was eight. He died on his forth birthday and today is his anniversary. Ever since then, whenever I find myself lamenting getting older or am going through a bit of a rough patch, I just think that every day I get is one more than he did.

How lucky are we to be  alive on this amazing planet! What are you doing with the time you’ve been granted? What are you doing to make sure you leave the ‘campsite’  just a little bit better than when you came?

One of the big hits in my recent workshops has been CoolIris. Teachers like the way that it strips away all the text from around images giving a ‘gallery like’ feel to the images being explored.

I recently used the software successfully with a group of 5 year olds as we explored the work of Franz Marc together. My plan was to use Voicethread to record their responses but alas the computer had other ideas.

I’m currently putting together a collection of reflection questions for art. I’ve included many of my favourites and am working on some new ones. I’ve placed the draft of this document online and left it free for anyone to add to. Feel free to add your favourite art reflection questions to it.

Edit the Google Document Here NB no log in is necessary (I hope)

cheers

Adrian

Hi All,

These three resource posters started off as a joke with a librarian friend of mine to help kids remember their Library stuff.

The good fairy was the first one I showed her. She told me she wanted something more ‘evil’ to echo her end of term mood.

I then took up the 2nd fairy. ‘I said evil… not demonic’
So I took up the 3rd. ‘I said evil, not scarlet-but the sentiment is correct’

NB the last poster is only to be displayed inside your filing cabinet for stress release!

Feel free to hand these to your librarian for some brownie points.

http://www.adrianbruce.com/reading/library_resources/library_fairy.htm

cheers

Adrian

A couple of months back Sarah Wallis contacted me regarding helping out with resources for a library in Wagai, Western Kenya. I had a friend of mine, Bron, print out my phonics posters and laminate them. We then sent them off.

Recently Sarah sent me this message and a few photos. Well done Sarah!

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world” – Nelson Mandela

Congratulations! You have done well.

On 7^th December 2007, Wagai Primary School became one of the first schools in the Western Kenyan region to receive a newly constructed children’s library.

On its completion, the Headmaster enthusiastically shook my hand and proceeded to proudly inspect the range of reading material. It is not often that a community receives such a gift.
What initially began as an idea to transport a few donated books to this school, ultimately catapulted into something much greater, as within three days I was in receipt of twenty emails from Australian authors, each of whom were keen to make book donations. Offers of further help then came from publishers, schools, teachers, students, bookstores, companies, doctors, airlines, a university, a freight company, foundations, family, friends and the general public. Offers of help also came from abroad. It was awesome!

In just eight weeks over $10,000 was raised, with the Australian High Commission in Kenya making a significant contribution toward this total. Around 220kg of beautiful books – mostly brand new – were generously provided. In addition, the money raised exceeded that required to construct this library, so remaining funds will now be used to aid in the construction of further primary school libraries in the region. How cool is that?!

To this end, I am arranging to keep open my original website for an extended period, to facilitate further donations toward these additional projects. Feel free to inform others of this web address – www.justgiving.com/sarahwallis

On behalf of Moving Mountains and the Wagai community, I wish to extend my sincere thanks to each and every one of you for contributing to this project. I simply could not have done it without you. The donations, suggestions and support have been invaluable. Thank you for placing your trust in Moving Mountains. Thank you for making a difference.

In light of recent events in Kenya, I understand that all Moving Mountains’ clients, staff and beneficiaries are safe. Sadly, Francis Kioni, who designed and led the construction of the library, did have his hardware business looted and burnt. Sadly also, is that at least one Kenyan involved in the charity, has lost her home. Please keep these special people in your thoughts and prayers.

Again, thank you to everyone who facilitated in the birth of this project. Know that you have contributed to bringing more joy than you can possibly imagine, to the six hundred youngsters of Wagai Primary School.

Kind regards,

Sarah Wallis

In 2002 when I first started my website, it was so I didn’t have to keep making my teacher friends floppy disks of my teaching resources.
Five years later… I now give away c. 40 gigabytes of teaching resources a month. This equates to c. 29 464 floppy disks worth of educational resources each month. Now I’m a thinking that if you have any teaching resources that the world might need… you must work out a way to share those resources with those less fortunate than you.

cheers

Adrian

NB In 2006 I had to take the Clustr Map off my site in an attempt to speed up loading time