Illustration roundup

Businessweek cover by Bigshot Toyworks. Via these sites.




Win an art box by Myke Amend.





Adventures of Baron Munchausen poster and site mascot by Gretchen Natvig.




Choose Your Own Adventure by Caldwell Tanner for College Humor. (30 pages, 6 different endings.)




Batman by Matteo Scalera.

*Buy Batman sketch cards at eBay.

Twitter scavenger hunt

Here's the list. Hashtag your photos with #scavengerhunt and keep track of your points. Highest points after a week win.. something. I'll work that out later.
As you can see I added things you can find around the house, the supermarket and while out and about. Should be easy on some of the things.

A funny sign (100 points. 200 of you infront of the sign.)
Police car. (50 points. 150 if near donuts)
A monkey (50 points for toy. 200 points for real)
Bowl of plastic fruit (50 points)
Trolley filled with junkfood (100 points)
Imported snacks (30 points)
Lobsters (30 points)
Photo of you on a $2 ride on toy (200 points)
Skilltester (60 points)
Moustache (50 points.)
You with a moustache (100 points)
Hipster hat (40 points)
Funny sunglasses (70 points)
Old lady making rock sign (100 points)
Food court bin overflowing (50 points)
Rubber ducks lined up as army (100 points)
Giant robot (80 points)
Pink Macarons (40 points)
Hilarious t-shirt (50 points)
Giraffe (real: 100 points. Toy: 50 points)
Pair of jugs. Glass. (100 points)
Rip off transformers (50 points)
Gnomes (40 points)
Candy necklace (40 points)
Wood. Got wood? (50 points)
Cubby house (80 points)
Weird letterbox (100 points)
Metal statue (30 points)
Lego man (40 points)
Batman t-shirt (50 points)
Tough biker on bike (50 points)
Goth kid (80 points)
Red KFC spoons (50 points)
McDonalds ketchup packets (50 points)
Man with handbag (100 points)
Naughty salt and pepper shakers (100 points)
Foam hand (50 points)
Wind up chattering teeth (40 points)
Unicorn (toy: 50 points. Real: 1,000,000 points)
Pirate ship (100 points)
Giant dinosaur (100 points)
Real stop Hammertime sign (200 points)
Wall of clocks (70 points)
Fluffy dice (80 points)
Beer hat (100 points)
Giant wine glass (80 points)
Spongebob candy (50 points)
Big cookie (80 points)
Ruby slippers/heels (100 points)
Orange wig (80 points. 100 points if wearing)
Bug plastic star glasses (40 points)
Dagwood dog (50 points)
Crazy straws (50 points)
Fairy wings (50 points)
Beatles t-shirt (50 points)
Harry potter glasses (50 points)
Hoola hoop (50 points)
Turtle lamp (50 points)
Celebrity on phone (200 points)
Ride on mower (150 points)
666 bus (300 points)
Piñata (50 points)
Steve Irwin statue or doll (100 points)
Very tanned old lady (200 points)
Polka dot socks (50 points)
Flagpole (30 points)
Big lollipops (40 points)
Black yoshi (80 points)
Cupcake plushie (80 points)
Jaffacakes (80 points)
Tiki statue (80 points)
Animal coffee table (50 points)
Purple car (30 points)
Line of taxis (50 points)
Railway crossing sign (30 points)
Horrible dress (50 points)
Tin lunchbox (50 points)
Bus driver (30 points)
Bunny rabbit toy (40 points)
Slurpee (30 points)
$100 note (40 points. You'd think 100 but no)
Rocket ship (40 points)
7 birthday candle (30 points)
Empty bench (30 points)
Simpson slippers (40 points)
Cactus (30 points)
Viewfinder (40 points)
Toilet paper igloo (40 points)
Pyramid of cans of Coke (50 points)
Funny dog squeaky toy (40 points)
Kinder suprise toys (min: 3. 50 points)
Gold football (60 points)
Twilight book on fire (100 points)
Packet of cinnamon donuts (40 points)
Witches hat (40 points)
Self portrait (20 points)
Zombie figurine (30 points)
Lots of balls (50 points)
Boba Fett helmet (80 points)
Penguin (Toy: 50 points. Real: 100 points)
Pearl necklace (50 points. No points for gross ones)
Tequila with worm (80 points)

I plan on taking a photo of ALL OF THESE THINGS within 2 weeks so game on people.

TeachMeet

We've just had our first TeachMeet and it was simply
amazing! 50+ teachers and educators giving up their own time after work on a cold, wet afternoon to come together and share ideas in an informal, friendly and energised atmosphere.

When Stephen Heppell visited us a few weeks ago he mentioned the massive success of TeachMeets in the UK as a contemporary teacher professional development model. Upon further research, particularly through Tom Barrett's blog and contacting Tom himself, we came across the TeachMeet wiki and how to organise one and suggested rules.

To quote Tom:

“A TeachMeet is an unconference; there is no organising committee and anyone can arrange one or attend – all it takes is a date on the wiki. People sign up to talk about technology in classrooms and it’s free. It is driven by the passion and enthusiasm of those participating."

So after a simple tweet to canvas interest we chose a venue, date and set up our own wiki. (Setting up a Google Site was a great learning in itself). With word-of-mouth, tweets and emails soon we had 57 down to attend with 21 presenting (including one from the UK via Skype).

The afternoon itself was sensational. This was all the more incredible with the wireless falling over (fortunately we were able to pick up the school's next door) and people delayed by traffic. That is the beauty of the informal style, less pressure on hosts and attendees alike, a solution can be found and you can walk in late, grab a cake and people are just happy to see you.

We had primary and secondary teachers in the room, mingling and sharing ideas. Presenters only had 2 or 7 minutes which allowed for the upbeat pace of the session. Half of the presenters simply hooked up their nice shiny new iPad2s, so much more informal and blasé than Laptops. People talked about everything from Google Public Data to Weebly, Goodreader on the iPad, Qwiki and Bee-bots amongst others. The energy in the room was simply palpable! (All presentations should appear here shortly). We had Primary teachers wanting to try Secondary activities, Secondary teachers wanting to visit Primary schools and sure enough teachers and schools connecting.

It may sound somewhat cliché but several teachers left saying it was the best PD they had ever had.

To help the smooth running of the event we had a couple of soft camels to throw at people who ran over time (a technique borrowed from the UK), a Twitter back-channel #ceotm on another screen plus a random selector for the presenters. You can view photos of the event here.

So where to from here? Importantly, no one owns TeachMeet. It is not the providence of myself, my Region or sector. Anyone can set one up anytime. We discussed at the end how often to run these and who wants to do the next one. A school volunteered and we'll probably go every 6 weeks or so.

Learnings for next time:
- provide more food - were eaten out of house and home! (probably have a proper 'TeachEat' meal next time)
- stream it live e.g. on USTREAM (this was going to happen but a bridge too far in this instance)
- make name badges including Twitter IDs (helps put a face to a name or Tweet)
- if you're MCing the night, give yourself a table to work at in between presentations

Other suggestions are actively welcomed.

Many thanks must go out to people behind the scenes, in particular @jpilearn, @artprintmedia, @pvlies and @jeffpalmer2.

If you've never been to a TeachMeet go to one, better still organise one!

I hate drama

Dramas are best left on TV where I don't watch them and am not involved with them in any way.

So I've left Twitter. Yes, for the 5th time. I won't go back. I just can't go back. It took up a lot of my time. I talked to everyone who would @ reply me and I found myself being absorbed by it's power.

I think it's best I part ways with it for now and just calm down to sort my life out. Then return with tweets about bacon, cupcakes and gaming.

Digital Footprint and Cyberbullying Tips

Here are some tips for everyone using the internet. These tips apply in particular to all perpetrators, trolls, victims and voyeurs of cyberbullying:

1. Most importantly, consider your digital footprint. What you put in the public domain is public! It therefore could have far reaching consequences. If you want to make defamatory remarks about someone, don't (or do so in private). One's primary responsibilities are to oneself, one's family and one's school. Think about the consequences of your actions.
2. Think before you tweet. The speed at which remarks can snowball on Twitter in particular is quite frightening, what with RTs, PLNs, 140 chars etc.
3. Screen Capture any evidence.
4. Don't get involved if it's someone else's spat. Let them fight their own battles, don't become their patsy and don't join the mob.
5. Don't even reply once if vitriol is aimed at you in the public arena (this applies to adults and kids).
6. Don't tweet if you are bored, only boring people are bored.
7. 

Stupid msn!

Ok, to those who like Windows Live Messenger, I hate you!

Seriously, what a bloated piece of Cr@p! What the Eff is this installing? Windows Live Call? Windows Live Sign-In Assistant? Why do you need these? *sigh*

Use digsby, no hassle, not M$, not bloated, multiple protocols suported, also email and facebook.
Here's the link : http://www.digsby.com/

and a complementary video :

Twitter in Education

Below is a Prezi on Twitter in Education. It looks at 3 aspects:
a) What is Twitter? - a brief overview including Tips for Teachers by David Hopkins
b) Twitter for Lifelong Learning - emphasising the benefits a PLN (Professional Learning Network) and how much educators can learn from and share with each other
c) Twitter in the Classroom - examples of how Twitter can be used in a classroom including 'Thirty Interesting Ways* to use Twitter in the Classroom' by Tom Barrett et al.

Twitter in Education on Prezi

Twitter loses it

It's fun to watch Twitter spaz out like it did yesterday. Even though there were 'internal server errors' and lots of fail whale watching (a picture that comes up when Twitter is over capacity) everyone kept on tweeting. We were possibly causing Twitter to go mental even more with millions of tweets about Twitter crashing. Paradox.

I also found myself thinking "Gee.. what do I do now?". Mind you I have a 2 year old and a whole house to clean.. it's Twitter that keeps me somewhat social and up to date with the news. I had to resort to Tumblr and making the above fail whale picture to post. I love it. I might send it to BP along with a sample of pimple cream that is guaranteed to reduce oil.. :D