How many times have you attended a conference, PD session or seminar and ended up doing the most meaningful learning through informal discussions with fellow educators? How often have you wished you had more time to meet up with other educators to discuss issues face-to-face? How often have you wanted to connect more with like-minded educators beyond … Continue reading »
I was lucky enough to attend ICOT in January and got some great ideas and food for thought. One such idea that grew as the conference went on was to create a wall of skills and tools I thought the students needed to be great learners. The idea was to add skills/tools as the year proceeded and … Continue reading »
“There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” (Susan Cain) I’ve been wanting to read Susan Cain’s book Quiet for a little while so, when I saw her video on TED talks laziness prevailed and I decided to watch it. The talk really resonated with me as I would consider myself more … Continue reading »
I was lucky enough to be taken along to the International Conference on Thinking (ICOT) held in Wellington over the summer holidays. I say lucky as there were so many inspiring minds there, both in the education field and beyond, from New Zealand and overseas, from higher education as well as practitioners. I was humbled to hear … Continue reading »
I believe it is imperative that teachers consider themselves to be learners (and to practice what they preach!). To engage in conversations, proactively look for professional development opportunities and to expose themselves to their students as fellow learners is vital to improving practice and creating a culture of continuous and ongoing learning for all in the school. I follow the “What Ed … Continue reading »
I went to Educamp today, which was held at Stonefields School in Auckland’s Mt Wellington. Educamp is essentially an opportunity for like-minded educators to get together and share in an open and flexibly formatted day. I’ve really come to see the value in stepping outside the day to day running of your school life, whether literally (as I did today) or figuratively. … Continue reading »
Let’s think more broadly about writing, presenting information and telling stories! Here are just a couple of ideas that you may or may not come across: Xtranormal - Animated cartoons Animoto - Professional looking presentations Storybird - Online books with artist’s illustrations Zooburst - Online pop-up books Voicethread - Multimedia slide show people can comment on Voki - Speaking avatars There … Continue reading »
If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas. – George Bernard Shaw It’s great when … Continue reading »
This term we have decided to change the way we do ICT professional development a little and try out something new. The concept is this: “Coffee and Computers” (I’m sure you can come up with a better name than this but, under time constraints, boring old alliteration won when deciding on a title. This is … Continue reading »
When I was at Ulearn last year, I wrote two lists – one of ‘things to implement’ and the other of ‘things to ponder or look into.’ I have recently revisited these lists as it is so easy to get wrapped up in everyday life then forget P.D like this and let ideas slip away. One of … Continue reading »
