#EdChatNZ: post-conference thinks

So here I sit early Sunday morning following two days of inspirational talk, both face to face and across the electric Internet with various twitter friends (twends?). The inspiration is bouncing around in my head. My synapses have been protesting since 5:30 am when my eyes first fluttered open to the sound of a West Auckland rooster declaring that the day was up and running and we’d all better get organised. As all roosters do, once the damage was been done, he quickly fell silent.

Jokingly yesterday afternoon during the final keynote (NB: I wasn’t the only one tweeting all the way through), I tweeted this picture:

To-do List

I have been guilty of this in the past. Having the best intentions following a conference and heading back to school all hyped up and enthused on Monday only to fall back into the old routine. I am determined for this conference not to end with this same old same old scenario.

Here is my actual to-do list:

1. Get the class to re-design our prefab room. What do they want in their learning space? What stays and what goes?
2. Skype teachers and students at Hobsonville Point Primary School to learn from them. What do they like about their learning spaces? How has student agency, teacher/student collaboration and their environment contributed to their motivation? Of course, there are many other questions I have for HPPS. My tired brain is unable to construct them at this time.
3. Become a transparent teacher. Inspired by the wonderful presentation from @chasingalyx, and the openness I saw at Hobsonville Point Primary, I am determined to open my pedagogy and planning up for the world to see. Why should it sit on my hard-drive or get tucked away in the dusty black folder that sits on my bookshelf waiting for the day that ERO turn up and tell me my paperwork isn’t up to scratch (I totally know they will).
4. Continue the wonderful conversations I’ve been having over the last two days. Turn those regular twitter conversations into regular face-to-face conversations by “popping up to Christchurch” to person-bomb the great teachers I met over the weekend.
5. Buy a new phone. It’s my birthday on Tuesday and I’m worth it.

I have already emailed HPPS about skyping this week.

Without a doubt, the #EdChatNZ conference has absolutely been the best conference I’ve ever been to. I knew in my heart when the announcement popped up on my twitter feed just a few months back that it would be special. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think it would be what it was.

The message I have taken from this weekend is that I am not alone. I am a lone nut, but I am not a lonely nut.

Thank you #EdChatNZ. You are a community of future thinkers that I am so very privileged to be a member of.

Mr B