In control of PL & D with EduCampNZ

My thoughts after attending another EduCampNZ, this time one in the Bay Of Plenty:

Learner Agency is a topic that has been talked about a lot [since] a couple of years ago. My perception is that an EduCampNZ is the perfect place for teachers to take ownership of their own learning. This is Teacher Agency in Professional Learning & Development at its best!

What I enjoy about attending EduCampNZ is the networking and informal chats one can have with teachers from all over New Zealand as well as building face to face relationships. I like the fact that teachers have choice and voice. Anyone can be a presenter and anyone can attend. It is great to hear about best practice and to get 'tips' from others and also being able to share your ideas and experiences. 

If you haven't attend an EduCampNZ yet, there are events happening all over NZ. Events can be found on the EduCampNZ wiki.

You have the power to take control of your Professional Learning & development, you can develop ownership of your learning. Why wait any longer?...

My 'Storify' about what happened during the day:

The 'Smackdown' slides:

Learning - the moving spring of action...

Another great turnout for our fourth Educamp held in Rotorua with many 'newbies' present. A huge range of ideas and resources had been shared.

It was also great to receive this tweet from a first timer who displayed courage to present not only once, but twice!

My Storify:

Thank you to everyone for coming along and for sharing your wonderful ideas!

Thank you to +Justine Driver for a fab blog post.


~ "A genuine enthusiasm is an attitude that operates as an intellectual force."
- John Dewey ~

Sharing and Learning at EduCampHB

I thoroughly enjoyed my road trip to this year's EducampHB.  One of the highlights was meeting many of the people in my PLN. I cherish this moments where I have a chance to have a 'real life' conversation with them.  The learning conversations and ideas shared were endless.

Meet and greet opportunity

Contributing to the Smackdown presentation
on Blogging and TeachMeetNZ

One of the sessions that people choose to learn more about was around blogging.  I was happy to facilitate the session and answered questions around this wonderful tool 

My Storify of the day:

~ "Creative thinking inspires ideas. Ideas inspire change" - Barbara Januszkiewicz ~

"Kick-starting Learning in Term 1"

Annemarie confirmed the venue for our annual EducampRotovegas and I've had the e-Learning Smackdown slides and Sign-up form sorted long before schools started back for 2015.  We were ready and was looking forward to welcome educators to Rotorua.

Then we received this tweet from Network for Learning

and a blog entry by Andy Schick

http://www.n4l.co.nz/educamprotovegas-participants-thank-you/

Thank you N4L for recognizing teachers in this way!

We had a great turnout, the room was packed and it was wonderful to see so many newbies present.  The Smackdown did not disappoint, with a huge range of ideas and resources being shared.  

My Storify tells the story of the day, as it happened in the Twitter feed.

A warm thank you to all of the attendees! 

~ "To the world you may be 'just' a teacher, but to your students you are a HERO" 

- Unknown ~

EduCamp Auckland

I have always wanted to attend an Educamp in Auckland, but it just never happened.  This year however, I took the plunge, registered and was brave enough to add slides to the 'Smackdown', after receiving this tweet from Fiona.

I was looking forward to my participation with much anticipation (however, not so much to the early rise).
Annemarie and Alex were [as usual] great company while driving. The discussions happening on our way to and from an educamp are interesting and many times thought provoking.

On arrival, I enjoyed meeting all the people I have already had many meaningful interactions with on Twitter, face to face.  It was also lovely to meet Reid, one of my fellow KidsedchatNZ co-coordinators in person. And it was great to catch up with people I already know!

The Smackdown got underway, which I found to be very interesting and worthwhile.  I consider myself lucky when receiving a wee gift for contributing to the 'Smackdown.'

Sonya gathered all the TeachMeetNZ participants [present] together for a photo opportunity.

Afterwards, I wandered over to the wall to explore the options of what my next learning will involve.  I was however stopped by some teachers who wanted to learn more about blogging and using apps with students (after listening to me presenting my slides). So, I've ran a session with some teachers and received some positive feedback.

Amazingly, the sharing did not stop at the end of the session.  I also got involved in a twitter discussion with Sam afterwards as well as replying to a request from Alex

I've also supported Reid when he ran a session on KidsedchatNZ

At the end of the day...

Here is my Storify of this wonderful day (which you can also view at EduCampAKL).

~ "We should not only use the brains we have, but all that we can borrow." 
- Woodrow Wilson ~

In Charge of my Learning

Just back from an amazing and full on three days of learning with the 2014 CORE eFellows (Tim, Anne, Bec, Rowan, Vicki, Ben) and our mentors (John & Louise) in Christchurch, I was on my way to the Educamp in Hawkes Bay, which was organised by Juliet, Maurice and Rohan.

Coming home on a Friday evening and then having to get up very early the next morning, is not easy, but that is exactly what a passionate educator do.  I give up my time (with my family) to learn from, to engage and connect with other professionals.  

What is the reason why so many of us are doing this? I think it is because we are aware of the fact that we are playing a critical role in enabling the educational achievement of all of our learners, and therefore we need to keep on learning ourselves.

Around 80 educators were gathered from around the North Island.  The wisdom was in the room with great conversations led and inspired by passionate educators.

We started off with the usual Smackdown, where some attendees shared something they thought was useful and worthy of mention. I was grateful to hear beforehand from Tim, that there was a slide with my name added to it, to share about #TeachMeetNZ.  Phew, I had to think quickly as to what to say about this amazing project by Sonya and I hope I did it justice.  

After that, we used stickies to indicate our interests to form an 'unconference' for the rest of the day.

As usual, the learning and conversations did not stop when the educamp was over, thanks to my travelling companions Annemarie and Alex.

Evidence that even these discussions are valuable is reflected in this tweet:

It was fabulous spending time with like-minded educators and I am grateful for new connections made. 

~ "The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you." - B.B. King ~

EduCamp The Tron

I first read about EduCamp the Tron on Twitter and decided to sign up for it, as I wanted to grow my personal learning.

I have never been at an EduCamp before and did not actually know what this entitles, but I was looking forward to it.

I met Melanie in Hamilton. After parking our cars, we walked back to the gate to take a photo of the EduCamp Tron sign.

The first person I've met at my first EduCamp, was Simon who entered, just as Melanie and I was about to take our photo.
  

After initial introductions and an informal chat with other people inside, it was time for Smackdown.  This was my first experience of a Smackdown where attendees had two minutes to introduce and share various technologies that will/can enhance your teaching - these can even assist in the children’s learning.

Some of the ideas that were shared and which I will explore or am already using:

Pinterest:  A content sharing service that allows members to "pin" images, videos and other objects to their pinboard. (Will have to look at this one!)

Evernote: Use Evernote as an assessment tool through note taking, audio, photos.  You have the ability to tag notes and store in folders. (I started using this recently and am loving it!)

Storybird:  Short, art-inspired stories. Designed for children in mind.

Audioboo:  Use Audioboo to upload recordings to your blog pages.

Youblisher: Makes a PDF into a book. You can embed it easily into a blog.

Kidblog: Students use kidblog to practise writing skills and as an e-portfolio to reflect on and publish their learning. (Already using this with my Year 1's. Students use the Voice Memo app on the iPod touch to record their voice and we then publish it to their blogs. http://kidblog.org/Little-Giants/)

Digistore: Building your Learning Path and share with your class. 
Software for learning: Snapshots of learning. NZ sharing NZ stories.

Thinglink: for tagging maps to tell stories.
Edchatnz & kidsedchatnz

(More shared ideas can be found on the Google Doc for EduCamp The Tron.)

Lunchtime!

When we came back we had group discussion on the following topics:

Daily 5; Quadblogging; Google Apps for Education.

I had a fantastic and productive day and am already in discussion with Annemarie, another great twiducator I've met at The Tron, about organising an EduCampRotovegas early in 2013!

I am also seriously thinking about attending http://emergingleaders.school.nz/ignite-evening/  #EduIgnite #The Tron.