business
Week two review
Mar 21st
Had some good progress this week although not as much as I would have liked!
I decided to start applying to get some funding, up until now I was sceptical as to whether it was a good idea. I guess having little money come in changes that perspective! So this week I have spent a lot of time trying to nut out exactly what it is that the business is going to be doing and putting that into words. It is an interesting learning process and some of the things that the funds are asking for are things I hadn’t considered before so it is good to think about those things. I am very lucky to have meet Sara who is going to help me get the application all sorted, she has done this kind of thing a lot before which is great because the more I look at it I realise I have no idea!
Apart from that I have spent a lot of time looking up and contacting organisations that work with youth. The plan is to find one that would be a good fit to work with. So far it has been quite promosing and next week I have a couple of meetings to discuss what we are doing.
It is great that everything is progressing nicely, but the big push for next week will be to actually do some paid work as I did none this week! I am hoping to get around 30hrs in, possibly more if I work all night 
Week one review
Mar 14th
Today sees the completion of my first week in Newcastle. I thought I would take the time to document what I have achieved this week. In part to keep myself accountable and so that in the future I can look back and see the progress.
I arrived here last Friday, I spent the weekend looking at flats and went to a couple of churches, notably Tyneside Vineyard where I met some wonderful people.
On Monday I was very anxious about my flat situation, there were a lot of options, some cheap some expensive, that I could have gone for and I didn’t know the right move. I asked God to sort it out and he reminded me of a place that I had seen that I had written off as it didn’t precisly fit my criteria. I called the agent and put in a ridiculous offer. She took it to the owner and five minutes later called me back to confirm I had gotten it. It turns out that this was a very good option and what I have for the price is and amazing blessing.
I moved into the flat on Tuesday. I was so glad to finally have somewhere to stay. After nine months on the move I really needed some stability. The next few days I spent getting things I needed and sorting out paperwork, utilities etc. I also started work on some paid work as well as planning out the next few weeks.
I am feeling much more organised and ready to tackle the tasks ahead. It has been a good week!
Moving Cities
Jan 22nd
Recently I went on a bit of a tour of northern England with the purpose of meeting people and finding a city where I could start my business.
One place I went really captured me. Newcastle. The people are really friendly, the city is really bustling and there is a really good atmosphere there. Not only that but it is a really attractive city. Really! The buildings, and the Gateshead area are just gorgeous. I took a few photos while I was there, you can view them here.
I also met some great people in Newcastle who were very supportive and excited about what I am doing. They offered me a tonne of advice and have sparked several ideas and approaches to take which has been invaluable.
There are also a lot of business resources to draw help from. I have started collecting links to them here.
I am quite excited about the move. I am doing a little travelling over the next few months, but when I get back I will be moving up there, should be sometime in April.
Inspiring ideas in the Sandbox
Jan 17th
A few weeks ago I introduced the idea of the Sandbox, at the time I was struggling to think of ways to engage with the kids. I have been making good progress however, and now have a few more ideas. One of the things suggested to me was to use Alice to create games and introduce the idea of programming to the kids. After having a play with this it looks really good. Quite simple to get working but also teaches some of the basics of programing. I think it will make it less intimidating when they actually come to write a line of code.
As well as Alice I have come up with another couple of things that will hopefully pique their interest. First of all Lego Mindstorms. This is a great platform that lets you create robotic type devices that are (wirelessly) connected to a computer and can be programmed to do different things. I think using this will be a great way to get people interested in programing as it provides a tangible link between doing something on the computer in an almost virtual environment and the effect that it can have on the real world.
Another idea which needs some research (because I am not sure how feasible it is) would be to use Digital Scalextric sets and hook them up to a computer and write a program that drives the car. It would take input from where it is on the track, corners and overtaking lanes coming up, where the competitor is etc. It could then use that information to make the car run at its top speed and overtake all without crashing. We could then race different programs/cars against each other. I am sure it would start out an absolute disaster, but with some tweaking of the programs I think it could be quite exciting.
So it seems there are a few more options. I am keeping my eye out for other things as well. Something football related would probably go down well. Maybe some kind of fantasy football?
Teaching Themes
Jan 15th
As I have mentioned previously I have been working on the curriculum I will be teaching to the kids on the program. It has been really challenging to sit down and work through all the topics that need to be covered and how to cover them in an engaging way. What is interesting is that as I did this I lost sight of what I was originally thinking would be a good option and after numerous attempts at writing down how it is going to work I have come full circle back to my original thinking. Slightly frustrating given the amount of time I put into this, but at least now I have explored other options and found them wanting.
All I have as a reference point is how I learnt so I am drawing a lot from that. When I started programing it was purely out of necessity. I needed to build an e-commerce website for a venture I was planning. Turned out that I wasn’t equipped to get the idea off the ground. Through that process though I learnt a heck of a lot, and it was what really got me started in my programming career. What I was building was going to enable me to revolutionise the way goods were sold on-line and make me a lot of money and that gave me a real sense of purpose.
So getting back to how I am going to teach. After the sandbox (which has also seen some exciting developments) kids will go into this teaching phase. At the start we will talk about a project that they may want to do. Something interesting and relevant to them. Social networks are hot topics these days so maybe something along those lines – if the kids are really creative maybe we will even get a new concept out of them! In the first session we will work through some of these ideas and turn what they want to build into a series of stories that, well, tell the story of how it will work. Subsequent sessions will work through the process of how to build it. At each step a new concept will be introduced that they must grasp. These are some of the fundamental elements of programming and understanding these concepts will, I believe, set them up to be able to take on almost any programming task they will encounter in a normal business environment.
Curriculum Theory
Jan 8th
I have been working on writing a curriculum for the sand box and teaching programs I plan on running. As I have never written a curriculum before I have been on a steep learning curve! I have been reading ‘Curriculum theory and practice’, and have found it really useful. The author presents four options as to what it a curriculum could be and leaves it somewhat up to the reader to decide the most appropriate meaning.
From reading this I find that I most identify with the ideas of curriculum put forward by Lawrence Stenhouse:
‘A curriculum is an attempt to communicate the essential principles and features of an educational proposal in such a form that it is open to critical scrutiny and capable of effective translation into practice’ – Lawrence Stenhouse (1975)
One of the key ideas that Stenhouse puts forth is that individuals are not merely present in the process but that they should have a voice in the way that the process is implemented. This is important because the process is only a guide that is being worked out. It will not necessarily be perfect or the right thing for all the participants, therefore they must be able to provide feedback on how things are run so as to provide them with the most value – after all they are the reason for even having the curriculum in the first place!
Classic methods of teaching often fail people because they do not work well with the way that they learn. I know this because the way I was taught had little alignment with the way that I learn, I therefore had little desire to apply myself and subsequently dropped out. I was lucky that my desire to succeed and accomplish things drove me to learn skills on my own time and in my own way. I am hoping that my experience with this, and the understanding of how I learn, will enable me to effectively pass that knowledge onto others. My goal is that they will catch a passion for learning that inspires them to pursue knowledge their own way, on their own terms.
Which brings me back to the last part of the quote from Stenhouse:
‘... and capable of effective translation into practice’.
This is the key – translating the theory into practice. I have a lot of work to do to figure out how to do this and it is what I will be working through over the next few years.
Inspiring hope
Jan 1st
I never finished school and I never went to University – and I don’t think that was a bad move. Sure it would have made things easier at times. I have missed getting a few jobs because of my lack of degree. But generally it has not been a problem.
I realise that this is not the norm though. I grew up in a very privileged environment. I had the most loving, supporting and encouraging parents anyone could ever ask for. I shared in my fathers ambitions and learnt to dream far beyond what I imagined was possible. I have always had a lot of hope for the future and to me my dreams seem completely realistic. I am not always sure how I am going to accomplish them, but accomplishing my dreams has always been more a matter of when rather than if. Along the way my confidence has taken a couple of hits, but again I have experienced amazing support that has managed to get me back on track. So I am still working out my dreams and their accomplishment, but I am still certain that I will get there.
I have come to realise that other people are not as fortunate as I have been and I want to do something about it. There are really two elements of what my business is about:
- inspiring people to have hope and dreams for the future,
- and equiping them with skills that will allow them to make a start in accomplishing those dreams
I have had some inolvement with a project called I have a dream (IHAD) they work with schools in low income communities and encourage, mentor and pay for “dreamers” to attend University. IHAD is an excellent program that has had a huge impact in peoples lives. It is a fantastic way to get involved in peoples lives and get them on the right track from the start and I hope that it grows and gets into more schools. In fact when I am in a position to sponsor a school it is something I will get involved with.
Something more than just that is needed though. What I am starting will be working at the other end of the spectrum – helping those who didn’t get that support while they were growing up.
Finding youth to work with
Dec 27th
One of the things people keep asking me is where am I going to find people to train.
I expect that getting this business started is going to take some time because it is very much about relationships and in my experience there are no short-cuts – it just takes time. So here is my game plan. I want to form relationships with existing organisations and people that know of people who could benefit from my help. This involves school, the police, youth workers, churches etc. Of course they are not just going to refer people to me directly with no track record of helping so I am going to have to build some trust. To do this I will have to get involved with an existing organisation working with youth. Maybe to do some mentoring or just general dogs body helping out.
It may not be exactly what I envisaged from the start but I am beginning to see that transforming a vision into reality involves making some consesions and doing things a little differently along the way.
Alice
Dec 24th
I have this passion for programming but I know that other people don’t necessarily get it. So I have been wondering how to make programming fun. One of my friends mentioned Alice a software development environment that makes it easy to for people to create 3D games and animates. Seems like this might be a good tool to use in the sandbox.
I haven’t managed to get it working yet as there is some problem with the version of Java I have on this version of Ubuntu. Once I sort that out I will have a play and see if it something worth using.
The power of community
Dec 24th
The last six months I have had a real change of mindset with regard to communities. I suppose I had been going through the “Every man is an island” stage. For the last six months I have been doing a Discipleship Training School with Youth with a Mission. There were eighteen people on the course (including staff) and we spent nearly all day together every day. One thing I have learnt was that while you can live as an individual, it is much better to live in community. Having your life closely entwined with others enables them to be there for you. It gives you opportunities to encourage each other and just makes life easier!
We were taking things to extreme by most peoples standards. We would often have times when we would write encouragements to every other person. Pulling out the good things that we see in them and building them up. Personally I was so blessed by this. My self esteem was built up – but not falsely, and I become much more confident to do the tasks that we had to do. I wish this wasn’t extreme. I wish that we did this kind of thing all the time.
So where am I going with this? Well one of the reasons I wanted to start this business is that I want to live in community. So I decided the best way would be to move to get myself in a place where I can do that. The business will be planted in a community and its goals will be around working for that community by bringing in work, developing local community based projects, social networks, encouraging and equiping people for life etc. I am not sure how all this will come together at this stage but I want to try and use it as a vehicle for implementing some of the things I have learnt about living in community.
