Inspiring Campaign

David Pogue of New York Times did something quite amazing for the past month or so in what he called the "Take Back the Beep" Campaign. The idea behind is basically that telcos (the case here refers to those in the US) are ripping consumers off with the mostly mandatory instructional message played each time when you wish to leave a message on the phone. The precious seconds are billed onto the consumers' phone bill and that the whole thing should really be made optional as almost everybody will know by now how to go about pressing which button to get a voice message recorded. Something more important is the amount of time wasted each time a person needs to hear the whole instruction read out to him, even if it is already the thousandth time he is recording a voice message.

One man's idea vs the ingrained operations of many established industry heavyweights, what are the chances? Well, the amazing thing is that through spreading his idea of getting everyone (as many as he can reach from his blog) to pen their frustration on this matter to the telcos, the effect picked up tremendous momentum and it came to a point that David Pogue got interviewed by national news on this matter and that all the telcos are obliged to review this entire process due to the unsually high number of complaints.

This is really quite inspiring. If David Pogue just kept on assuming that such matters are way beyond his control to do anything about, everything will just be status quo, people will continue to be unhappy and just live with it. But his decision to do something. The decision which always precedes action, makes all the difference.

If you are keen to read about the story of this "Take Back the Beep" campaign, take a look at his blog here http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/take-back-the-beep-campaign-an-update/

And just to end, Snow Leopard is sweet. :)

Snow Leopard is out!

And it's out for Pre-order on the Apple website!

Mac Users, it's faster, better and consumes less system resources, do the right thing and go place your order now!! :D

Useful tools

A boy in 2E3 made my day when he shared me about his search for a good mind-mapping software and introduced me to iMindmap, the only mind-mapping software endorsed by Tony Buzan himself. I shared my own mind-mapping experience with the class a few months ago and told them how I wished I had discovered this tool much earlier in my schooling life as it had really benefited me. I am of course very glad that someone in the class had gone the extra mile to explore the mind-mapping opportunities in the digital world, and I hope that his journey into the mind-mapping world will empower him in many ways.

I discovered mind-mapping techniques in my early twenties and took to it straight away. So intuitive, simple and effective. These tools are really important, and another gem which I had discovered only in these couple of years is none other than GTD (Getting Things Done). I introduced the method only to my Sec 4 pupils and the most conscientious ones are still using them, telling me that they find it to be useful in collecting and tracking what they have to do. Their post-its manner of implementing the system is not ideal and many could have abandoned this method due to its low tech hassle. Those who persevered obviously tasted the pleasure of the method's usefulness, and had hung on to it till it became habit.

A quick dabble into iMindmap's organic expression that mimics hand drawn maps.

Mindmaps and GTD. Certainly my top 2 favourite tools in managing my thoughts. They are completely applicable to pupils and are definitely things best learnt when young.

Surreal

Going to be a short post this week. Too busy to really think of anything else with the arrival of my first child. :)

The whole experience is simply surreal and I am enjoying every single precious moment of it. Tired, but feel very blessed and happy.

Ok, now where's my Kopi-O?

Walls of Display

National Day can designs by our lower secondary pupils

The gallery for the past few days had been filled with cans and cans of limited edition soft drink designs (almost 200 of them) which were created by our lower secondary pupils especially to celebrate National Day. Took some time to sort through the better ones and to ultimately put them up in the spotlights but it was certainly worth it when everything went up. It is really quite a sight when the diversity of creative expressions is displayed collectively.

We have learnt to trust the good old 3M mounting tapes for such jobs as anything lesser (we have tried and we know) would have little chance of holding these three-dimensional pieces up for any decent amount of time. They are less difficult to remove too after the exhibition is over, although I am always hoping they will invent something which comes off the walls with even less effort when we wish to dismount the art pieces.

Vibrant red walls are seen everywhere

The pupils were quite excited to see their design pieces go up on display and I think that is always important, that they feel encouraged and gain confidence in expressing themselves through art making and get the validation for a good work done.

Tethering on the iPhone!

Such vibrant colours!

I am writing this via iPhone tethering and it is just great! Having internet everywhere is simply amazing and we are definitely living in exciting times!

OK. Bus interchange coming.

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Well, this part of the writing is done at home. I was having too much fun playing with the iPhone tethering just now that I almost did not realise that I had to get off the bus really soon when I started writing. Just thought of following up on what I was thinking of when commuting.

Our school is getting a brand new coat of paint these few weeks and there is quite a lot of change in its appearance. This intended colour scheme is supposed to express more fun, more live and more energy. I was hoping that the Lego colour scheme would win in the votes and it was a close one. 40 more pupils prefer Gummies, which I am sure our painting contractors would breathe a deep sigh of relief if they were to see what the other probable colour scheme actually looked like.

More reds

The environment. The seemingly passive element for all the buzzing activities to unfold within it. Ignoring its importance and contribution would be a mistake. For manipulating the physical construct will be the easiest component to create a change in perception and gradually having its trickling effect on culture, and possibly belief. Visualise having a big, vibrant modernist painting hung on the otherwise blank walls of an empty room, and its effects on our minds and consciousness of being.

I hope that the pupils and staff will feel better or happier with this new coat of paint and with so many bright, freshly painted walls, it is time for more art to go up.

Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP)

Subjective Experience

I had been looking forward to attend the NLP workshop last Thursday. My primary goal of signing up is to find out more about suggested methods I can use to increase the level of motivation in our pupils. Attending workshops during normal school hours is quite a novelty to me, as I more often than not would prefer to read on my own for information or ideas.

How did the workshop go? Well, I will say that Dennis Sale (our trainer) is a very accomplished communicator, and being in his class is a very engaging experience. We were told early in the class that in a single day, we would only get to touch on the main ideas behind NLP, and anyone seeking furthur undertanding and practice would have to do some homework on their own.

Mindmap of NLP workshop

Above is a simple mindmap I had constructed with my iPhone during the course to remind myself of the main associations. There are plenty to talk about and I am going to focus my reflection here in how NLP sees behavioural alternation, which when focused rightly becomes the response to my quest in increasing pupils' motivation. 2 main points were raised.

Everyone will seek Pleasure and move away from Pain, exactly the same points the famed NLP guru Anthony Robbins had mentioned. Both pleasure and pain are of course subjective experiences and with changing contexts, differ widely from person to person. The challenge here is to know what exactly are the pleasures and pain-reduction that our subject matter is seeking. Adapting our approaches with a good understanding and in accordance of the above will increase our probability of success in behaviour alteration. For that to happen, we will have to first of all have a better understanding of our pupils.

In some videos we were shown in the workshop, I am quite convinced with the manipulative power of NLP under the skilled execution of a practitioner. Under good hands, it is a very power skill to have in education and it is definitely worth finding out more.