Excited to be a teacher and learner

Despite a full on couple of weeks with lots of meetings and PD, I was looking forward to another EduIgnite evening on Thursday.  These evenings is invaluable to me as it helps me to better myself and provides me with an opportunity to look at lots of things differently and also enables me to put them into perspective.

I think teachers of today have one the hardest jobs in the world, with all the trends currently in education and most of the time we don't value ourselves as we should.  Why could this be?  Do we concentrate too much on all the things happening, which we might perceive as 'negative'?  Would that  change if we only concentrate on what we can do for our students, how we can improve ourselves and how we can make learning experiences the best ever?  I do believe so.      

I am excited to be a teacher and learner.  I love to 'hang out' with other teachers on Twitter.  I love the sharing, collaboration and support of teachers coming together and how it enables me to stay informed.  I love how I empower my students to share and collaborate through #kidsedchatnz and their e-portfolios.

Although I was not present at the following EduIgnite talk, I am again inspired.

EduIgnite Talk Highlights

Another EduIgnite is just around the corner! How that snuck up on me.  I am still relishing in my previous, first experience of an EduIgnite evening!

Some of the highlights for me from last year was:

Mary-Anne told us how to ignite the brain using thinking skills.

Ignite Talk | Mary-Anne Murphy from Emerging Leaders on Vimeo.


Barbs told us about learning and one of her favourite things: geocaching

Ignite Talk | Barbs Reid from Emerging Leaders on Vimeo.


Dave talked about why we do what we do, and how technology can make a difference in the world.

Ignite Talk | Dave Winter from Emerging Leaders on Vimeo.


Great stuff!! Looking forward to my next learning experience.

What is happening?

This term is moving forward with some speed that actually left me with feeling a bit flustered and with a feeling that no significant progress has been made in any areas of the deliberate learning acts for my students.
This has lead to me to feeling frustrated as I have never felt before at this time in a first term.

Time was needed to reflect seriously as to what the reason for all this might be and I came to the following conclusion:
* Harold the Giraffe from Life Ed was at our school - time out of class
* Sport BOP 'leg it' programme - out of class for an hour each week for 3 weeks already (3 more to come!)
* School Triathlon/Duathlon day
* School Swimming Sports day
* New students arriving - enforce class routines time and time again.

All these took time away from establishing a stable learning culture within our class.  I don't think  for one second that these activities are not deemed valuable, as they are equally important in creating other learning experiences for students. 

On a more positive note, as I want to make sure that my students are getting the best individual learning experiences possible, I have created their own ILP as mentioned in my Professional goals earlier - which seems to be working well.  And I do see accomplishements in learning, no matter how small.

So what now?  Now I just need to move forward and follow this 'advice'.

"Problems are only opportunities in work clothes." - Henry J. Kaiser

EduCamp Rotovegas

EduCamp Rotovegas hit off today at 10.00am in Rotorua and was the first of it's kind for this year and as usual, did not disappoint with a 'full house' of 30 participants!

The sharing and collaboration from all were amazing and I loved it when Annemarie started with a video on Inspiration: Be agents of change.  Lots to be taken away and fantastic to meet and greet new and 'old' PLN friends.

Rotovegas Google Doc  &  Presentation

No doubt that this EduCamp was a huge success thanks to all attendees, the sharing & organisers.

Goals -> Balance in 2013!

The summer holidays are drawing to a close and I am looking forward to the challenges of this term. Therefore, I have also been thinking about my goals for 2013.

Professional Goals:

• Ensure that each student will be getting the best individual learning experiences possible.  This year each student in my class will have their own Individual Learning Plan page on our class Wiki that will put an emphasis on their role in their learning experience, which I believe is crucial to a productive learning experience, as is achievement of their goals.
• With this I am planning to provide students with opportunities so they could stay interested in learning, with a desire to keep inquiring, exploring and thinking.  I would like them to want  to learn
• I won't sweat the small stuff and will only concentrate on my students, deliberate acts of learning and my teaching
• Try something new, like different teaching approaches - looking forward to see where this idea might lead to
• To engage in a developmental process of improving my practice by taking risks - here comes  'FAIL'
• Continue to strive to complete my job to the best of my ability and to be a teacher who loves her job, love the subjects I teach and to care for each student so that they feel valued as an individual

Personal Goals:

• This year I don't want to miss out on the present and will celebrate at the end of every day, little happenings/accomplishments. I will look at the here and now, not just reflect on and look at the bigger picture and what needs to be done
• Keep on interacting with other teachers and my PLN.   I can't think of a better way to learn from each other
• I need to keep my priorities straight, as I find it hard to stop in my search to finding new ideas on how I can enhance learning for my students.  I need to learn to stop and make time to relax and just have fun.

                    And this 5 W's of life will be added, as I see them appropriate for my sanity.

Reflecting on 2012

What an incredible year 2012 has been for me personally. 

Due to my 'Inquire, Learn, Grow, Inspire' approach this year, I have gained in some valuable insight into my teaching capabilities and leadership skills, which in the end contributed to myself growing in confidence even further. 

I value all of the learning opportunities I have had the privilege to be involved in, both personally and professionally.  The satisfaction of sharing my skills and knowledge with other staff and the support I was able to give where and when required was almost incomparable.  Learning from other professionals was rewarding and motivated me to get even better and to continue my quest into learning new skills and approaches to make learning enjoyable and worthwhile for myself and all students involved. 

In my classroom I have had the privilege of seeing and experiencing how my five and six year old students developed into confident learners, supported by our inquiry model and by using excellent questioning skills, which we have worked so hard on as a class.  The progress each and everyone have made was gratifying.

Reflecting on my teaching practise of this year, I am already thinking about and looking at how I can enhance deliberate learning opportunities for students even further in 2013.

Facilitating Blogging - What? Me?!

Without any pre-warning or subtle hints, I have been asked to facilitate a Blogging session for staff on our Teacher Only Day in 2013. 

What? Me? No, can't be!  What about our ICT lead teacher?  She knows a lot more that I do! I am just me - I am not an expert! I just didn't feel it was my place to do so, was my reaction and words - spoken out loud!

I however, couldn't get the principal to change his mind on this.  I felt bewildered and not very confident about presenting. 

On my way home that day, I was contemplating this 'sword above my head' - as I saw it.  I sat down to reflect on what was said at EduIgnite.  Mark mentioned that the most timid become leaders of learning at an unconference.  The power of me added to the power of we. 

I then think back to a conversation I had with Annemarie shortly after our EduIgnite evening about PLN's and why we connect. I mentioned collaboration, growing together, support, new perspectives and learning. We discussed encouraging others and end with another lesson from EduIgnite - keep engaging others.

Well that was it! How could I not do what I preach?  I had come to terms with the fact that I will have to do a presentation on blogging, and... I know I will do it well!