I started blogging in the middle of May 2007. In this post I reflect on my experiences after one year of blogging.
First, I’ll deal with questions about why I started blogging and why I have continued. I started with some rather naive ideas about communicating with a captive audience of clients, students and staff. With over 400 kids in the school at the time, I expected a couple hundred parents would be keen to follow my every word. Was I ever mistaken! It didn’t take me long to realize that no-one, not even my staff, was reading my blog. Since by that time, my blog was directed primarily towards staff and parents, the observation that they were not reading it, was perplexing, to say the least. Was it due to their slow adoption of RSS, lack of interest, ignorance or fear of web 2.0?
To stimulate parents to read my blog, I essentially quit producing our regular newsletter and continually promoted the blog as a source of information. At this point in time, I really don’t know if this approach has been successful in influencing parents. My ability to influence staff is much stronger, and so their professional development (PD) priorities were realigned to focus on technology. (If I played it right, I could almost equate successful PD with reading my blog.)
In less than six months, focusing PD on technology has lead to a spectacular increase in staff use of web 2.0 technologies, which will eventually affect their classroom activities, and a noticeable, but less spectacular increase in blog readership. For instance, one year ago a search of Youtube or Classroom 2.0 for Sekolah Bogor Raya would yield no hits, whereas now it yields several hits, with the number growing actively. In the cases of both parents and staff, I firmly believe the poor or slow adoption of RSS is the main reason for continuing low readership.
So, despite the lack of readers, why do I continue to blog? Simply because I am passionate about learning, and I learn far more from blogging, including both reading and writing (with its forced reflection), than from any other form of professional development. Others have cited the same reason. A heartfelt thanks is in order to all who contribute to the blogosphere.
Another reason for blogging is to market my school, which has succeeded at least in terms of increasing traffic to our website. I had hoped to start conversations about Sekolah Bogor Raya, which could provide opportunities for word-of-mouth advertising, since word-of-mouth advertising is perhaps the most important form, especially for schools. I am somewhat amazed by the slow realization by most Indonesian National Plus Schools of the potent marketing opportunity offered by the internet. One exception is Sekolah Global Jaya, whose innovative executive principal, Richard Henry, has recently started podcasting. Congratulations, Richard.
This post has rambled a bit, but maybe that’s just the nature of reflection, following ideas wherever they take you.
This is my Earth Day contribution. This isn’t new; but I just encountered it today. Blackle is essentially Google with a black background, because more power is required to display a white background, than a black screen. It has been calculated that about 750 Megawatt-hours per year could be saved if Google switched their homepage from white to black. For complete details, see The Full Story on Black Google, Blackle, etc.
The Ted Talks almost defy description. An annual series of talks, presented before live audiences and videotaped, they cover topics ranging from global issues, science, arts and technology. They are a wonderful source of teaching material, since they are downloadable. I have selected four examples from global issues, sciences, arts and business. If your internet connection is too slow to watch these video, you may borrow them on CD from Admin.
Al Gore’s New Thinking on the Climate Crisis
Al Gore presents evidence that global climate change may come even sooner than previously estimated.
Michael Pollan: the Omnivore’s Next Dilemma
“What if we are all just pawns in corn’s clever strategy game, the ultimate prize of which is world domination? Author Michael Pollan asks us to see things from a plant’s-eye view — to consider the possibility that nature isn’t opposed to culture, that biochemistry rivals intellect as a survival tool.”
Jennifer Lin
Just 14 years old when this was filmed, pianist Jennifer plays complex pieces and talks about improvization and composition.
Seth Godin: Sliced Bread and Other Marketing Delights
Marketing guru, Seth Godin, tells why being different is necessary in marketing.
February and March are typically the most frenzied months of inter-school competitions. Therefore, this seems to be an appropriate time to reflect on the year’s competitions to date and honor our winners. And their mentors and coaches.
Coloring
Cynthia Jonathan (Prep A) took first prize in a Kindergarten Coloring by Number Competition, organized by BPK Penabur at Sentul on 1 March 2008.
English Writing
Aninda (SD3B) and Audrey (SD5B) won first prizes in an English writing competition sponsored by Ray White on 29 September 2007.
Football
We have three teams playing in the Coca-Cola Schools Football League, Under 9s, Under 11s and Under 15s. Of the three, the U9 team has been most successful, emerging as the winner of its group. A special vote of appreciation to Pak Widi, the PE teachers and Andy Wood.
Guitar
On 26 February 2008, Christian (SMP3) won a classical guitar competition at Bina Tunas Bangsa School, beating some ten participants from four other schools. He played two pieces confidently with perfect fingering, coached by Ibu Niken.
Christian playing his winning guitar
Math
Audrey (SD5B) and Edward (SMP3) won silver medals in the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools on 31 August 2007, each placing in the 99th percentile for their groups; the fact that grade 5 had 25,244 participants, and SMP3 had 6,345 gives an idea of the competition faced by these medalists.
Edward with his silver medal
Modern Dance
Ibu Erlin’s dance troupe from Prep earned the title Best Performance in a kindergarten modern dance competition at Ekalokasari Plaza on 8 December 2007. These kids are really incredible!
Ibu Yani and Erlin with part of the dance troupe
Spelling
On 15 March 2008, Sekolah Bogor Raya held its fourth spelling bee with 450 students from 30 schools competing. Anisa (SMP2) and Edward (SMP3) won first place for their levels. At English First’s regional spelling bee on 15 September 2007, Audrey (SD5B) and Haidar (SMP3) won first place. Aninda (SD3B) took first place in Penabur’s spelling bee on 1 March 2008.
Haidar (left) and Edward took 2nd and 1st place trophies for SMP3.
Swimming
At the SPH Sentul Sports Festival 2008 on 1 March 2008, our swimmers excelled. Fifi (SD4A) was declared Best Swimmer for Grades 3 and 4, and Disha (SMP2) took the title of Best Swimmer for Grades 7 – 9. Fifi and Disha each won firsts in three events and Ayudia (SMP3) took one first place. At the provincial PORSENI SMP 6 – 8 August 2007 Disha took one first place medal, and Fifi won two firsts at an invitational swim meet in Bogor 9 February 2008.
Disha and Fifi, our champion swimmers
Taekwondo
At the British International School Taekwondo Games held 1 March 2008, Indra (SD5A), Stephen (SD4A) and Adianto (SD4B) won first place trophies for sparring, speed kicking, and sparring, respectively. In fact, twelve of our students brought home ten trophies and five medals. They are all products of our extra-curricular taekwondo run by Matra.
Stephen and his speed kicking trophy
Although I have singled out our winning students here, I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to all our competitors, not just the winners mentioned here. School sponsorship of students in competitions can be a sensitive topic. When should the school pay and when should the parents pick up the tab? Obviously, we cannot afford to enter every student in every contest. But the temptation to only sponsor winners must be resisted. We need to reach a balance between sponsoring our very best and giving an opportunity to our second best or our unknowns.
Next year we will be preparing for science competitions, since our new science teacher, Dave Booth, is experienced in leading students through competitions, and also blogging, since we will organize a blogging competition.
Miss Melinda Hariyanti joined Sekolah Bogor Raya 1 March 2008 on a part-time basis as a school psychologist and counselor. Her educational background is impressive, with a Bachelor of Psychology cum laude from from Padjadjaran University, followed by a Master of Educational Psychology from University of Indonesia with GPA of 3.60. She is licensed to practice psychology.
She has had experience with employee recruitment/selection, training, child therapy, and also as a preschool teacher. She is familiar with educational assessment tests, such as those for placement, under-achievement, and learning disability. Her main interest is child developmental psychology.
Mel is 26 years young and still single. She was born in the Philippines where her parents were both working on PhDs, dad a veterinary entomologist and mom a nutritionist. When asked what led her to study psychology, she replied that it was a random choice, although she does have a psychologist aunt, who might have influenced her. Mel sees herself developing her psychology practice and possibly raising a few subjects of her own someday in the future. Welcome to Sekolah Bogor Raya, Mel.
Some 450 students of grade one through nine from about 30 schools participated in our spelling bee on 15 March. And a number of late registrants were rejected. The immense popularity of our spelling bee, which can be considered a vote of confidence in our ability to run a truly great event, has prompted me to reconsider plans to scrap the bee in favour of a blogging competition.
The main reason we had decided to replace the bee starting in mid-2008 was that spelling is mostly a left brain activity, while blogging is a more right brain, or creative activity. Anyway, the bottom line is that next year we will continue with the spelling bee and also start a blogging competition. We might consider some changes to the format of the bee to reduce traffic congestion, eg. holding the bee over two days, holding the qualification round for nearby schools on a different day, or limiting the numbers of spellers from each participating school. Other suggestions are welcome.
The winning schools are listed below. Tiara Bangsa took 3 first place trophies, while Sekolah Bogor Raya and Binus each won two. The second table lists the top 5 spellers at each grade, their scores in the qualifying round and the final outcome from the on-stage spelling bee. All kids listed here must be considered winners, since they beat quite large numbers to get to this stage; for instance there were bout 75 grade 5 contestants, so just passing the qualification round is quite a feat.
The qualifying round in a classroom
On-stage spelling bee. The three still standing are still in the competition
Spellers competing on stage
The officials: standing Gerald Donovan, a reader; sitting left to right, Ibu Bennisia, MC, Andy Wood, definitions, and the three external judges, Doug Horley from Ipeka, Philip Rekdale from Pendidikan.net and Carl Turland, from TBI, Bogor.
The grade 6 winners tied. This is the first tie in four years of spelling bees. (We’ll have to make another trophy)
On Friday 29 February, I had the priviledge of witnessing the ANPS-BI sponsored band competition at Sekolah Tiara Bangsa ACS. In previous years, the ANPS has held arts show or exhibitions. Today’s battles are the first competitions, and hopefully not the last. The new format worked marvelously. Billed as the Battle of the Bands, it was indeed a battle among the six bands at SMP level (junior high or middle school). And yet another battle among six other SMA bands (senior high school). The battlefield was the spectacular Tiara Bangsa theatre, with its beautiful lighting effects and even billowing smoke. The battle was opened by Daryl Forde, chairman of the ANPS and then passed to Thelma Poetiray, MOC and event organizer supreme for the ANPS, who introduced the contestants.
First, the SMP bands duked it out. Bands from:
1. Sekolah Bogor Raya
2. PSKD Mandiri
3. Yayasan Pendidikan Jayawijaya – Papua
4. Vistory Plus School
5. Gandhi School
6. Sekolah Tiara Bangsa- ACS (Intl.)
The winner of the first battle was an awsome group from Papua, and second place went to the hosts Tiara Bangsa. (Had there been a third prize, I believe it would have gone to Sekolah Bogor Raya.) Watch these kids in a couple years, when they are in SMA.
The second battle featured senior high school bands from:
1. Sekolah Bina Nusantara – Serpong
2. Gandhi School
3. Sekolah Bina Nusantara – Serpong
4. SBI Madania
5. Sekolah Bina Nusantara – Serpong
6. Sekolah Tiara Bangsa- ACS (Intl.)
The winner of the second battle was Madania, and again second place went to the hosts, Tiara Bangsa.
While watching the everchanging projected stage backgrounds and disco light effects in Tiara Bangsa’s theatre, I thought of light and images specifically selected and linked to each piece of music, and how this would add another dimension of creativity. You see, I am a great fan of Disney’s Fantasia, where fantastic cartoon imagery was composed to complement some great classical music. A quick search of YouTube revealed lots of examples of slideshows, videos and animated videos composed to complement music. An example of each follows.
Slideshow: Black Night by Deep Purple
Video: Cup of Coffee (Garbage)
Video animation: I cant believe its not Fantasia (part 12)
What do you think about a visual creative component for the next band competition? Shall we make it a real multimedia event that utilizes he full potential of Tiara Bangsa’s grand theatre?
The judges for the Battle of the Bands were from the 8 Souls Band, who not only did an outstanding job of judging the battles, but also performed several pieces, thereby demonstrating their credentials to judge the battles, and, at the same time, delighting the audience. And strangely, most of them were related to Thelma, our event organizer extraordinaire.
Just one complaint about the 8 Souls…they don’t have a presence on YouTube. This is poor PR. Similarly, the ANPS really should develop a PR mindset. If events such as this Battle of the Bands were covered by TV and print media, the image of the ANPS would surely shine.
Marc Prensky, the guy who reportedly coined the phrases digital immigrant and digital native, has a thought-provoking article in the February 2008 issue of Edutopia Magazine, titled Programming: the new literacy. In his article Prensky argues that programming literacy will rise in importance to become the essential characteristic of a highly-literature person of 2028.
Much has been written about 21st century literacy, which is seen going far beyond the old definition of being able to read and write a modern spoken language. The following breakdown is taken from Engauge’s 21st Century Skills. There is no specific mention of programming in the section on technological literacy, which is where it would be placed.
“Digital-Age Literacy includes the following:
• Basic Literacy: Language proficiency (in English) and numeracy at levels necessary to function on the job and in society to achieve one’s goals and to develop one’s knowledge and potential in this Digital Age.
• Scientific Literacy: Knowledge and understanding of the scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity.
• Economic Literacy: The ability to identify economic problems, alternatives, costs, and benefits; analyze the incentives at work in economic situations; examine the consequences of changes in economic conditions and public policies; collect and organize economic evidence; and weigh costs against benefits.
• Technological Literacy: Knowledge about what technology is, how it works, what purposes it can serve, and how it can be used efficiently and effectively to achieve specific goals.
• Visual Literacy: The ability to interpret, use, appreciate, and create images and video using both conventional and 21st century media in ways that advance thinking, decision making, communication, and learning.
• Information Literacy: The ability to evaluate information across a range of media; recognize when information is needed; locate, synthesize, and use information effectively; and accomplish these functions using technology, communication networks, and electronic resources.
• Multicultural Literacy: The ability to understand and appreciate the similarities and differences in the customs, values, and beliefs of one’s own culture and the cultures of others.
• Global Awareness: The recognition and understanding of interrelationships among international organizations, nation-states, public and private economic entities, sociocultural groups, and individuals across the globe.”
Prensky makes the point that “teachers often disrespect today’s young people for being less than literate in the old reading and writing sense. But in turn these young citizens of the future have no respect for adults who can’t program a DVD player, a mobile phone, a computer or anything else. Today’s kids already see their parents and teachers as the illiterate ones. No wonder some teachers are scared to bring new technologies into the classroom—the kids just laugh at their illiteracy.”
But what are, or will be, the components of literacy in the future? Are the components listed above sufficient? What more could be added? Flexibility or adaptability might be considered, to deal with the uncertainty. Alvin Toffler is quoted saying, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”
Prensky goes on to say, “Our machines are expected, thirty years from now, to be a billion times more powerful than they are today. Literacy will belong to those who can master not words, or even multimedia, but a variety of powerful, expressive human-machine interactions.”
“If programming (the ability to control machines) is indeed the key literacy of this century, how do we, as educators, make our students literate?”
At Sekolah Bogor Raya, we will be looking at programming as a possible topic for inclusion in the ICT curriculum. First we need to check out several curricula to see if programming is taught (and if so, what languages) and what other national plus schools are doing.
One possibility is Scratch, which is free from MIT. It is a programming tool for kindergarten/grade one and up to about grade 6. Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web.
Scratch could be followed by an introduction to programming with Alice, Microsoft Visual Basic, Logo, HTML, PHP, Qbasic, C++, or Python, all of which have been taught at the high school level.
Perhaps we could ask other national plus schools to comment.
Hey kids, our Spelling Bee is 2 weeks away. If you’re not using Spelling City to help you learn new words, you should. And all you parents, if you don’t know about this great website, you haven’t been reading our school blog; you should.
I brought this website to your attention on 6 February 2008 (see Recent Posts). Since then, I have also discovered a video which shows how to use Spelling City.
The Spelling City video from Teacher Training Videos.
