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Archive for December, 2011

Dec 21

Have yourselves a science fiction Christmas…

Photo by Flickr user puuikibeach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2011 has been an incredible year, taking me from New York schools to the mountains of Peru and the snowy streets of Helsinki. I’ve been privileged to work with Australia’s great early literacy scheme Paint the Town REaD, and meet incredible writers, performers, storytellers, literacy and education professionals from around the world.

There’ll be a full review of the year closer to the end of this month, but in the meantime here’s two great Christmas stories about hope in the face of entropy.

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Dec 9

We Don’t Know How Lucky We Are: Community Outreach and Australia’s Mining Boom

“We think we are the lucky country, but what we really have is…too much luck, more luck than we know what to do with.”

-Paul Cleary

The first thing an overseas visitor notices on arriving in Australia today is the relative prosperity which its citizens enjoy. While the British government preaches austerity and American protestors Occupy Wall Street in response to the global financial crisis, the café culture on Sydney’s sidewalks bears testament to the boom Australians are currently experiencing. Though Manhattan itself now struggles to fill its shopfronts, even Australia’s smallest service businesses seem to thrive despite the GFC.

Much of the current boom can be ascribed to Australia’s mining sector, which plays a vital part in national life. Whole towns exist to service the resource industry and mines, as major employers and resource users, bear a substantial community responsibility.

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Dec 8

New York Harbor School: Interview with Founding Principal Nate Dudley

Back in October, I got in touch with the folks at New York Harbor School on the eve of their First Annual Regatta, a nautical event to celebrate the school’s work bringing a unique brand of maritime education to the city’s students.

Harbor School students at work in the waters of NYC

I discovered the Harbor School while auditing a course for Special Education leaders at New York’s Bank Street College back in February. I was impressed to encounter a US institution which brought together public education with a strong community commitment and a fearsome range of practical training including marine technology, commercial diving and aquaculture!

In my teens I was keener to skive off kayaking lessons and sneak out to Birmingham for shopping and pizza than get on the water. Now, at 31, I can only dream of the kind of maritime opportunities the Harbor School offers its students.

Nate Dudley, the founding principal, got in touch with me by e-mail to discuss the educational adventure currently taking place on Governor’s Island in New York.

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