Without words

If my last post was about words (and animations), this is about pictures. With no text, other than setting the scene, Vulcan & Vishnu tells a story simply, with characterisation, humour and thoughtfulness. Would work great in the classroom too.

Animated by poetry

Well I didn’t know America had a Poet Laureate, or to use the official title Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress…. Didn’t know too much about some of the more modern ones and haven’t explored them all yet but struck by Billy Collins – somehow serious but with lots of playfulness e.g. the poem “Sonnet” begins “All we need is fourteen lines, well, thirteen now.” But what also impressed were some effective animations of Billy Collins’ poems, including Forgetfulness or Man in Space

But my favourite animation is “The Dead.” Really like too, the possibilities of pupils creating simple stick-drawing animations…

Catching up

Last week: relaxing in the Lake District. Last went about 25 years ago and forgot how beautiful it can be.

Took the time to do some walking, banjo playing and reading. Best book of the week - still some pages to go - has to be “The Book of Dave” by Will Self. I’ve tried a few of his previous books (just by standing in bookshops and browsing the first few pages) but they seemed a bit too knowing… I bought this on impulse. Probably would have rejected it if I had time to read the first few pages. It’s two novels in one - Dave’s story set in the approximate present, and a dystopian future 500 or so years ahead where Dave’s impact has been considerable and resulted in a new religion and belief system. Both parts are excellent but, when combined, the overall effect is superb. Difficult first 30 pages or so but well worth the initial persistence.

Previous two weeks: Spent much of the time preparing for and presenting at RM’s national conferences. Some highlights for me included John Davitt at Manchester and Dr Nick Baylis at London. Also Professor Tim Brighouse and his definition of sustainability: “holding on to those things we value most in times of great change.”

For me, the most adrenalin-charged moment in the presentation was creating a live podcast with the help of the audience. Made all the easier - just made possible in fact - with Podium. It’s a really neat solution to creating podcasts and feeds. A lot of hard work must have gone into this to make the software so simple and effective to use.