Personification in Poetry

Luxor Jnr

After two weeks of indulging in one of my favourite units of the framework, The Piano with year 6 I was facing somewhat of a dilemma last weekend. How do you follow from a unit which totally engaged your class, who loved the fine detail and emotion portrayed in the film?

Not only was that a challenging enough job but we were also tackling quite a difficult topic. Yr 6 Poetry units include the study of personification. This can be quite a difficult concept and despite finding several poems which exemplifiied personification I wondered how I would be able to inspire my children to write thier own poems. What object could I bring to life, with enough vibrance and feeling that it would inspire them to describe it in thier poetry?

Connecting their previous enjoyment of 'The Piano' to this unit had me thinking of a film or animation which might grab thier attention. 'Luxor Jr' by Pixar seemed to fit the bill beautifully. Despite being created over 15 years ago this wonderful piece of animation was one of the first to bring inanimate objects to life.

Chasing down a copy of the video file took me a while but i finally found it on

http://myvideostv.com/action/viewvideo/249/luxo_jr_1986_Pixar/

I shared it with my class today and they loved it. They laughed at the antics of the Luxo jr, were able to establish a relationship between the two lamps as affectionate and possibly paternal. They also produced some wonderful first drafts. Some poems described the antics of the two lamps, some poems were written from the view of Luxor Snr, some from Jr. Some even focussed on a conversation that we imagined the two lamps might have at this point in the film.

A wonderful resource, which entralled my class. Hope you and yours will enjoy it just as much as we did!

Activenture 2007

Knackered but well worth it!

I have just returned home from very tiring but fantastic week in Ashdown Forest. I have been volunteering on a residential week that provides respite care and adventurous activities for young people for 8-18 with a wide range of special needs.

All staff and helpers (under 18's) on this week are volunteers. I used to be part of this wonderful experience as a teenager but had dropped out of touch. Thanks to the persistant nagging of a friend I went back last year and couldn't belive that I had put it off for so long. This week gives so much to the young people that we care for - we have children up trees, down zip lines, through muddy obstacle courses, in canoes, swimming pools, mud puddles and God only know what else- regardless of thier physical or special needs, everyone gets to particpate.

Many of the young people say it is a life changing expereince and it is. But what struck me this week was the things that I as a volunteer take away from this place. I was talking to a friend on the phone about the 'joys' of staying up overnight to provide night time care and his response was - 'my god I hope they are paying you well for this'. He was amazed when I reminded him that it was purely voluntary. Later I felt sorry that the only reason he could see for doing this was pay. Then I reaslised he has never been here, he has never felt part of the family which moves in and takes over Hindleap Warren for the Summer. Even just arriving driving down the long drive evokes a wash of memories- of good times, freindships, pratical jokes, lost teenge crushes, an overwhelming sense of achivement and accomplishement. A sense of peace just seem to settle over you - until you hear a scream , see two teenagers ( or more likely staff ! ) running across the car park in the middle of a water fight or prank and decide to go and join in the mayhem :-)

I attended last year and I enjoyed it but didn't know a great many of the staff, so was not quite as enthused and I ummed and ahhed about going back this year. This year that was so different! Sitting in the reception whilst in conversation with another member of staff, trying to work out why he seemed so familair (-and was looking at me strangely as if he knew me!) I finally cottoned on that I had known this guy as a 15 year old- apparently I haven't changed! Add in meeting friends that I had made last year and making several new ones in addition to the now 4 other members of staff who have known me since a teenager, it made me realise why I come back.

Time after time after time- it's the people that make place like this - and yeah it may sound cheesy - but thank God I had the chance to be part of the Activenture family- You don't realise how much you missed it till you get it back!

Simpsons Avitar

Due to the bad influence of my friend Nic I have recently created my own Simpsons avitar.
You can create your own by following the link below. Can see me using these with staff to explain Modelling tools and the kids would love them too :)

http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/main.html



I am wondering if Anthony will let us use these as pictures for the Wiki as my other photos won't upload!!

Redbirdge ICT conference.

Well what can i say? Nik and Anthony have been going on about blogging for so long now. And i really wasn't sure. Could I see the benifits? Why would i want to blog? Would I find the time? However having just listened to the truly inspirational Alan November, (who opened my eyes to some of the true possibilties of shared blogs and shared resources which can create opportunities for shared learing) I decided it was about time that I sat down and created a blog.
So here it is ( thanx anthony i'm blaming u!!)

Alan has inspired, shocked, scared and engaged me all in the space of one morning. His many questions made me think about what we truly know about the authors of the internet. My children search and interact with the internet everyday. But do I teach them how to find out who wrote a piece? Can they find out the bias or political motivation behind a web site? Up until today I didn't know how to find these thing out. I learnt how to do these things and many more. I learnt about how links can be used in reverse to find out other information and other people who have linked to a particular site.

I also had my eyes opened to the possibilties of collaborative use of the internet. Through the use of del.icio.us being able to view the favourites of others in a group. Not just relying on a computer to find information for me in a search but finding out what others have thought useful enough to add to their favourites. People making choices and then sharing those choices.

I could go on and on about the things i have learnt today. But i think a better use of my time will be to go to Alan's site and actually complete his tutorials. And thank u Anthony, I finally get some of the big picture thinking you've been trying to tell me for so long!