How full is your bucket?

I was able to teach some philosophy lessons to a year 4 class using the text "How Full is Your Bucket?" The book explains that we all carry invisible buckets in which we keep our feelings and emotions. When our bucket is full, we feel happy. When our bucket is empty, we feel sad and empty.  The book shows students how we can help fill other people's buckets and in doing so, fill our own.

These lessons were a great way to get students talking about issues within the classroom and it helped create a great classroom culture. The students created their own buckets, which we displayed in the classroom, and students were able to fill other student's buckets by leaving nice notes in them. 

The discussions were a great way to extend the concept outside of the classroom and into the playground and at home and the community. I cannot wait to do this unit with my year 4s next year!

Stepping Out Conference

This week I was lucky enough to be a part of the QUT Stepping Out Conference. As part of the conference, each student had to develop a poster on how we have personally addressed 8 of the 10 QCT Professional Standards.

Here is my effort :)

Philosophy in Film: Morality and Ethics

Paul Verhoeven’s sci-fi thriller, Hollow Man, raises the question ‘What would you do if you knew you couldn’t be seen?’

Every day we make decisions. We make some of these choices based on what is best for us, and what is best for others. But why do we need to think of others when making these individual decisions? What’s in it for us? Society has taught us what is right and wrong, but how do we develop this sense of morality, and who is to say whether our virtues are good or immoral?

Philosophy in Film: The Individual vs Society

In a platonic society, everybody has their designated place. Are we automatically assigned a place in society from birth, or are we able to choose our own adventure? The Dreamworks film, Antz, shows what can happen when you buck the trend.       

When growing up, our parents filled us with dreams and never-ending possibilities about the world. We could set out to do anything we wanted to; we could accomplish our dreams. But in life’s harsh reality, we are faced with many obstacles in our way. Many don’t have the opportunities or the motivation to achieve them, and so stick with the status quo.

Philosophy in Film: How do we know what is 'real'?

We live our lives accepting that the world around us is real, but should we? Weir’s The Truman Show, asks viewers to question whether life is real or could it be a simulated reality?

How do we know the world that we are living in and seeing is real? What if it is a type of simulated reality, and how could we tell? When we are dreaming, are we aware that we are dreaming, or do we have to wake up to become conscious of our reality?

Philosophy in Film: Are objects as important as humans?

Spielberg’s futuristic film Artificial Intelligence blurs the line between living and non-living beings, and raises ethical questions of life, and whether robots are as important as humans.

Set in the future, the film Artificial Intelligence follows the story of David, an artificially created boy. David is the prototype of a new type of robot, or mecha, possessing the looks and characteristics of a real child, and has the ability to love.

Philosophy in Film: The Problem with Personal Identity

What makes me who I am? Is it my body or my brain that makes me unique? John Woo’s Face/Off raises these questions of personal identity.

If my memories, thoughts and experiences were implanted into a different body, would I still be me?  Or is it my body, the identifying thing about me, which defines me? Or could it be my behaviour is what shapes my personal identity?