Heather introduced me to the metaphorical side of my “career life” and led me down a path of deep reflection towards realizing just how meaningful every single detail is.

A5 Blogging – New Literacies (R)
Heather Blakey

Using a storyteller, Heather will present a Blooms Taxonomy of Curriculum activities, and then show how the responses to this can be blogged by different users on one blog.

Audience: all levels and subject areas.

Heather Blakey is a milliner’s best friend having worn many hats throughout her varied career. She has over 37 years teaching experience at both the school and organisational level. Most recently she was Head of English at LaTrobe Secondary College and worked on the ‘writing for well-being program’ and ‘Melbourne Citymission Bereavement Program’. She is currently webmaster of The Soul Food Cafe, a “quirky, interactive” web café (http://www.dailywriting.net/).

Eden Seed’s aim  is to distribute Old Traditional Open pollinated varieties of vegetable seed, preferably old Australian varieties and organically or bio-dynamically grown where possible.

Eden Seeds have led the way and has donated seeds to be planted in the first schools to participate in this project.

The SLAV branch gather at Beaconshill Village College for an inservice about using blog as a publishing tool. Cora Zon tells the story of the Magic Garden and then Heather Blakey demonstrates how outcomes can be published on a constellation of exciting, target specific blogs. In this situation staff, students, administrators and parents can not only see outcomes published within a very short amount of time, but can comment directly on the work. We are witnessing a significant revolution in the delivery of engaging curriculum.

“Cover Design: The Magic Garden“
a response to a visual activity in the Magic Garden Project

Lori Gloyd (c) 2007

Working together! Grade 6 Hawkesdale
The Magic Garden

THE MAGIC GARDEN

The Magic Garden is a project designed to show educators and their students how good curriculum can be delivered and the outcomes published, using new technology such as blogs, writeboard, photo board and many other exciting applications.

Cora Zon, a professional storyteller and Heather Blakey, an experienced web publisher and webmaster of the Soul Food Cafe, work collaboratively and demonstrate how educators can marry the ancient craft of storytelling, apply current curriculum and publish using state of the art blogging software. Cora tells the enchanting Kazakha story of the ‘The Magic Garden’ while Heather Blakey delivers a curriculum package that climaxes with self publication on a constellation of Global Teacher, Global Student blogs. Watch, in wonder, at the way this virtual garden is growing as staff, students and the wider community contribute by responding to the activities within the Magic Garden Project.

Cora Zon has a ‘driving lesson’ with Heather Blakey. During this session Heather and Cora set up her Postcards blog.

FEBRUARY 2006 JOURNAL by Chris Dunmire

A Blogternative to Going it Alone
Are you among those who enjoy using a blog for creative, expressive purposes? If so, you’re in good company. Artists, writers, and creatives of all kinds are drawn to the interactive nature of blogging to express their creativity, share their work, and elicit feedback from the virtual world. Furthermore, one can blog it alone or (if they desire) team up with others on collaborative blogging projects with creative themes like illustration, photography, and creative writing.

Community blogs know no boundaries, for if a theme can be conceptualized, it can be created. You know this is true if you’ve wandered over to the Soul Food Cafe Web site (www.dailywriting.net) recently. My friend Heather Blakey, Soul Food’s driving force and teacher, started using team blogging in 2003 with her students. When she retired from secondary school teaching in 2005, she began planting a labyrinth of blogs throughout the corridors of Soul Food, which now number over 60.

What goes on in blogs with mythical names like the Lemurian Abbey, the Hermitage, Riversleigh and Gypsy Camp? Plenty. And the sense of creative community experienced in the supportive Soul Food environment has been transforming lives. Troops willingly inhabit these virtual places under Heather’s skillful facilitation to explore more than just their art and creativity.

Intrigued by Heather’s success, I inquired if she would report on the transforming opportunities and creative unleashing that lie within the realm of group blogging. No sooner did I send my e-mail down under that I received a response by Heather and her creative collaborators in a piece titled “Zen and the Art of Team Blogging.”

Take note of Heather’s personal invitation to join in with the Soul Food team bloggers if you dare. But beware — she’ll make you work hard to earn your keep.

Chris Dunmire
Publisher, Creativity Portal

The challenge for educators is to rethink curriculum and move to relevant technology based curriculum. The blogger revolution is changing not only personal and global communications but thinking, technical, personal and workplace skills. For all intents and purposes blogs are static pieces of publishing software. Heather Blakey will provide a practical presentation which will inspire participants to create a blog and begin networking immediately.

Conference Lecture: Monday 20 November

On Monday 21 August Heather Blakey will be presenting at the Victorian Information Technology Association conference ‘New Thinking New Technologies for Student Engagement’.

Heather Blakey will be presenting a workshop about using technology in Education which focuses on blogging at the Billunook Primary and Middle School Resource Centre on Tuesday 15th August, 2006.

Blogging
Presented by Heather Blakey

The challenge for educators is to rethink curriculum and move to relevant technology based curriculum. The blogger revolution is changing not only personal and global communications but thinking, technical, personal and workplace skills.

For all intents and purposes blog is a static piece of software but innovative educators are infusing it with oxygen and are using it to engage their students, provide real audiences and develop interactive clusters of learning. Teachers are using new technology tools such as Blog, WriteBoard, Audio Blog, Pod Casting in their provision of higher thinking skill based curriculum.

Heather Blakey, a teacher with over thirty five years of teaching experience, has been working in this digital communication landscape for over ten years and is currently working with the Victorian Education Channel and Slav to establish a safe virtual blogging cluster for teachers and students from around the world. Learn more about the digital landscape with which your students are already familiar and see for yourself how the blogger revolution is changing the educational environment.

Heather Blakey will share her knowledge of innovative applications for blog, ipods and mobile phones within a school setting. She will also address the security issues, which concern teachers. By the end of the session you will be inspired to create a blog and begin networking with your students and like minded people from all over the world.