PD in your holidays? You must be mad!

Last week some of my collegues were in New York, Mexico, Thailand, Gold Coast, Melbourne and Queenstown. That sounds nice. I was in Hastings, NZ. Perhaps not one of the more glamorous holiday destinations. Along with my husband and half a plane load of English teachers, I flew into Napier, caught the Airport shuttle and prepared myself to enjoy the excitement of the Hawkes Bay and the annual NZATE conference, this year held at Karamau High School. I have never visited Napier or Hastings and to be honest, anyone who knows me will agree that Geography and basic directions are not one of my strengths. Thank goodness for Google Maps. However, on a cold and frosty Tuesday morning I was picked up along with three other English Teachers and headed to Karamau High School. From the Jazz band welcoming us, the vintage cars, to the organizing committee clad in 1930′s style, to the opening Keynote speaker, this was a fantastic conference. The food was amazing, the keynotes thought- provoking , the knowledge shared by colleagues from around the country was thoroughly professional and it was wonderful to meet up with old friends and make new ones. In this era of fast food, Facebook, reality TV and thirty second sound bites, it was soul food in the form of passionate educators sharing and inspiring us through the three days. It was also energising to discuss literature, poetry, Shakespeare, writing, reading, language etc with like-minded educators. One of the keynote speakers, Joseph Dreissen made me really think about the role of language in children’s lives, as well as the influence and importance of English Teachers. Thank you Joseph for making me feel valued and inspiring me to be a better teacher.

10 Things I know to be true

“It’s not just the adage ‘write what you know,’ it’s about gathering up all of the knowledge and experience you’ve collected up to now to help you dive into the things you don’t know.” I got this idea for a writing starter from a fabulous TED talk by American poet and teacher Sarah Kay. In this talk she talks about spoken poetry and the power it has for teenagers to find their voice. She talks about a writing exercise she uses with her students. As we were struggling for speech topics I decided we would also write a list. Here is the combined list with help from my year 10 class. 10 Things I know to be True 1)Dogs will forgive you immediately, cats not so quickly 2)Reading is the key to success. (775million people can’t read, 152million children do not attend school) 3)Facebook is not for NCEA credits 4)Keeping in touch with friends is important. 5)Life is hard(so you need to work hard) 6)You can survive a whole English lesson even if your cellphone is on the teacher’s desk. 7)There’s never a bad time to eat chocolate or ice cream. 8)Tomato sauce is one of the major food groups. 9)Two socks go into the wash, only one returns 10)When you can’t find something, your mum always can. Here is the link to Sarah Kay’s TED talk http://www.ted.com/playlists/77/new_to_ted.html

And the journey of the eFellowship 2013 has begun!

Last week I spent a fantastic two days here in Christchurch with four other educators, eFellows for 2013. We come from small and large schools, Primary and Secondary from Auckland to Dunedin. It was great to spend time and start to plan our inquiry which will be a major focus for us all this year. We were very lucky to spend time with Mark Osborne, former Deputy Principal at Albany Senior College and now a Senior Consultant at CORE Education in Auckland. He talked about “being a better teacher every day” This is something for all of us to achieve. He certainly challenged us to think about our teaching and the direction we would take for our journey this year. Many thanks Mark for your leadership and wisdom.

Waking up after some time away from this blog!

Have just re-discovered my blog!  Such a lot has happened since I first started it Where to start? Lots of interesting things in no particular order.
Ulearn Conference October 2009, Xmas 2009, NZ has World cup in 2 years time, Usual stuff, work, weekends, family, sport, food, summer holidays, university study 2009,
school begins 2010, rowing regattas, Maadi Cup April 2010, Easter Rugby Tournament. son makes school 1stXV, asparagus rolls every Saturday for aftermatch, Jean's coffee slice (yummy!)study grant from PPTA to continue Masters Papers for Post Grad in eLearning.Crusaders rugby, All Black tests, Sadly our beloved Snoop cat died aged about 18years. A bloody legend of a cat! The wedding of the year for 2010 is looming,
(I don't mean Wills and Kate - that is 2011)September 4th 7.1 earthquake at 4.35am- Christchurch changes forever, but we did not realise there was more to come, much much more and much much worse. NCEA exams also on the way for Yr 13 son - will he make it? October 23 2010- Only daughter's wedding in Christchurch in beautiful stone church in Cashmere (undamaged in earthquake) and then reception at Edwardian Tea House (also undamaged in earthquake)Great weekend had by all and a little 5.0 rattle for the visitors from the North Island! Just to let them what it is like here in CHCH. Yay I have an iPhone4 - soon to become "my precious"Off to North Island for Xmas and Newyear at the Beach in Coromandel, the long Kiwi Summer Holiday. to be continued...