Meme: Passion Quilt

I was tagged by Angela Maiers, a week or so ago to take part in the Passion Quilt Meme. First of all I want to apologise for the time I have taken to respond, but I have struggled a bit with this. I was tempted when I first received Angela's tag to search FlickrStorm for a graphical metaphor or two. However this didn't seem quite right since my "inspirations" usually comes from the students I work with, the experiences they bring to school and share with me. My blog is as much a celebration of their achievements and what I have learned from them, as a place to share and explore my use of ICT in the classroom. Within our PLNs students are key and central players, effecting every decision we make, keeping us on our toes and contributing to, leading and initiating the learning conversations that drive the communal learning experience we share. Student voice is what keeps us in business. Learning is built on common experience and the negotiation of shared meaning.

This image, "I'll be the narrator and you can be baby bear!" represents a key moment from my classroom this year and the role of ICTs in education as I see them their potential and capacity to support, develop and enhance "Learner Lead Learning." Learning to share, engage with and represent our ideas to a global audience must by default expand our view of text and textuality into a multimodal domain. A view of textual engagement and development that sees language alone as the vehicle for communication will not help overcome communication barriers as we strive to achieve this. The promotion and development of Multiple literacies must be a key element in developing communication and designs for learning for the future, and is an underlying theme for much of the work I present and share here. The "C" in ICT represents communication, but can stimulate so much more from its users creativity, community and context among others, my passion is to explore, unpick and engage colleagues and students with the potential that these ideas bring to learning to learn as we develop a pedagogy for the 21st century. A bit grand perhaps, but Passing on...

Here is how the Meme works :

• Post a picture from a source like Flickr Creative Commons or make/take your own that captures what you are most passionate about for kids to learn…and give your picture a short title.
• Title your blog post “Meme: Passion Quilt” and link back to this blog entry.
• Include links to 5 folks in your professional learning network or whom you follow on Twitter/Pownce.

I now pass on the torch to Linda, Anthony, Nicholas, Tricia and MissTizzy.