A post or two ago my husband, 7th grade humanities teacher Simon Power, blogged about the Great firewall of China and made mention of the many sites giving advice on how to get around it…..there is witopia which you pay a yearly fee for but also a free one called Hotspot shield. I am using Hotspot and it works really well!!! The down side as shanghaiist comment, is that there are advertisements but I haven’t found it too bad……..I am still on a high thinking that youtube is up and running!!!!!!

Please read this weeks newsletter…

October 15th News

Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?
Students, do you think you will still be blogging when you are Olive’s age?
The first 5KP comment back to me that tells me how old she is wins a prize.

Hello there young SAS students
Most days when I read your blogs I try and add a comment to them, I especially do this if I see that no one else is commenting on your blog because I think knowing that people are reading your blog helps you add to it more regularly and also more thoughtfully. Maybe you are all commenting on each other’s blogs but then that person is not checking their comment section properly and posting their non-spam comments. Make sure you all do that.
But if that is not the case and people are posting all the comments they receive then I am afraid that most of you are doing a poor job at commenting on each other’s blogs. Frankly, if this was an assessment task, commenting on the blogs of your peers, then you would be failing!
So get to it bloggers, write-post-read-comment-write-post-an ongoing cycle…there is much more to blogging than attaching every youtube video you come across.
Strive to succeed.

I think it is important for my daughter and my students to know that I am always learning too. Today my husband Simon and I spent from 9-4 out at work for a Research and Design course run by Plymouth State University. It was not our first choice for how to spend a Saturday, I would have much preferred a sleep in,a leisurely breakfast and time with my daughter, however it turned out to be a worthwhile way to spend the day and a great deal of learning was achieved. You see, Simon and I are trying to get our masters degree. It will mean greater job opportunities for the future as well as more money in some schools and it’s a fantastic opportunity for us to focus in on something that we really care about; an aspect of education that we want to know more about.
So students, many of your teachers are also learners, what some people term as life-long learners, the learning certainly does not end as soon as you finish high school or even University.We also have homework and study to complete, topics to research and essays to write.
We will be out at school next Sunday and the Saturday after that too…but all for a good cause…education.

Just discovered that one of my all time favorite bands are reforming despite the loss of one member.
Crowded House
If linking to their clip works I will be so excited

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I tell you, since coming to Shanghai American School and having a working and reliable computer in my classroom, on my desk, with a wonderful colour printer working beside it and staff to help me through…I have learned so so much.
You know who teaches me the most though…my students, my 10 and 11 year old lovely kids from around the world.
This year has been even better as all of the grade 5 team received a lap top and an LCD projector for each class. Mr Howitt did even better getting a smart board, he is really going to town on that thing.
So this morning I had my class with their laptops out while one of my students, Alex Liu taught the class how to put images on their blogs and we are doing that now. I learned how to do this over a year ago but have not practised it so much, it was great to get a refresher course from one of my students.

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Here goes…