Monday, September 29, 2014

#nzlac14 New Zealand Literacy Association Conference - Surfing the Literacy Wave


The true MAGIC of Twitter…
Today I have been on holiday with my girl in Wellington for a girly time at WOW and shopping.   While we were brunching at Floriditas I received a tweet from Matt:









I checked the #INF536 trying to source my involvement and it seems to be Masters Papers. And it seems to be something co-ordinated by Ewan McIntosh.

Later in the day I was on Facebook and Shared a link from Ewan McIntosh about 4 level questioning..

So, can you imagine my surprise when I walk into koru for a brief stopover in Auckland before my flight to Tauranga when I see Ewan Mcintosh… Feels kind of surreal to see someone you have been seeing online during the day, face to face when I didn’t even know he was in the country.  Turns out he is flying to Tauranga for the #nzlac14 New Zealand Literacy Association conference to keynote and present. 

We chatted over the link to my vimeo clip in Paper 6, Primordial Spaces of his course.  Very surreal day eh!

As we chatted, we discovered that it really isn’t so surreal.  If you are connected and networked, the chances of bumping into those you know are increased significantly.

So, on the eve of Connected Educator Month I will spend the day at Bethlehem College participating in #nzlac14 

Let's see how many educators we can connect with and sweep into the MAGIC of #cenz14 Connected Educator Month!

33 hours in WOWington...

WOWSER here we go flying to WOWington!
Early Sunday morning flying in – uber excited for a day of retail therapy in Wellington and WOW! 


Having been for the first time last year, WOW is one of the events that I plan to have on my yearly calendar.  This year I am travelling to Wellington with Katie for a girlie weekend treat! This time I had organised through airnz for a taxi pickup and the lovely Heston who picked us up chatted and talked about WOW and The Sound of Music.  I was blissfully unaware that The Sound of Music was currently showing but a quick google search revealed the last show was at 5pm.  Just like MAGIC Katie and I secured two of the few remaining tickets. 


A morning of retail therapy resulted in quite a few carry bags!  The rain and wind was almost blowing us around the waterfront so we stopped at Karaka Cafe for lunch.  

Next up the total MAGIC of WOW!  And WOW it was totally amazing and MAGICAL and inspirational.  We loved it!!! Surprised by some of the results (ehem weird blue and orange computer man), we must say but loved it all.  The levels and layers of entertainment are truly unbelievable and we will most definitely be back again in 2015. 

Check out some of the amazing photos and the winners for 2014 on the WOW facebook page.   







Out of Shed 6 on the wharf and into a cab for the drive to the St James Theatre for the true MAGIC of The Sound of Music.  It was AMAZING, I just couldn't help myself singing along.  A true credit to everyone involved in the amazing performance.  So grateful the taxi man let us know it was on!!  


Day two began with Brunch at Floraditas and a real explore of the shops in Cuba Mall.  A coffee in the secret garden at Olive  yet another highlight.  The rest of the day was filled with retail therapy (we are getting pretty good at that!!!), gelato on the waterfront and relaxing in the sun!  Even managed a moment at the Polish plaque on the waterfront....






What a truly MAGICAL 33 hours in WOWington...


Early Sunday morning flying in – uber excited for a day of retail therapy in Wellington and WOW! 

Saturday, September 27, 2014

The MAGIC of #nzpf2014

Greg and I flew from Christchurch to Invercargill on Wednesday to join the CORE crew for the 2014 New Zealand Principal's Conference.
 Our first session was the social event Kai at the Mai Mai with a true Southland experience.  It was fabulous to have time to interact with our CORE whanau and the delegates in a social scene.  I really enjoyed the opportunity for the inevitable selfie of two - first up Luana and Paul Ego!


Thursday morning Greg and I filled a slot for Mike and ran a session on Social Media in schools.  I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to work alongside leaders to look at how they might best use Social Media to meet their needs.  Using the new learning from Patti Dobrowolski's keynote we were able to think about what the "Social Media dream" might be for our organisation in one year and look at three bold steps to get the desired result.  






A workshop with Patti in the afternoon allowed me to see how this process might be able to be used with schools and teams.  

The day concluded with a stunning keynote by Richard Gerver.  



Thursday night's entertainment was a true colours race off at the velodrome, before a stunning dinner. 




Friday started with a truly inspirational Pasifika performance by St Patrick's Pasifika Group.

Brendan Spillane's keynote was one of the many highlights for me. So many ideas are percolating around how to make his MAGIC ideas a reality for me in my personal and professional life. 

Hekia Parata closed the conference with her address.

Ben Witheford closes the conference...

 Stunning visual recordings of the keynotes during the conference!










What a pleasure and a privilege to have been part of this stunning conference.  

Keynote shared docs:











#nzpf2014 Hekia Parata address

Five positives of education in New Zealand


1. Small, smart sassy country - good and smart strategic choice by migrants to make this place the best that it can be.
2. Values skills and education
3. diverse and culturally aware set of communities! Amazing progress in our responsiveness to diversity.  Moving from being culturally aware to being culturally responsive
4. Self managing, determining education system.
5. Great architecture - elegant system and machinery allowing us to be as good as we can be.

Using smart technology to its full potential as an analogy to using our smart education system to its full potential.

Five positives of education leadership in New Zealand
1. The people, the leaders, the ones who manage the individual school ecosystems
2. We provide rich, broad, deep, engaging programmes for our learners
3.  The ways we embrace information, evidence and inquiry - developing individual learning programme.
4. Change - the challenge and opportunities it brings.
5.  The environment - modern learning practices. Connecting to, engaging with our whanau.

A personal thank you and acknowledgment to all involving in teaching, leading and learning in New Zealand.

Challenge - to see and connect the chapters of learning... from sector to sector.  We must navigate new pathways. Our success is in the transitions between our sectors.