#nzpf2014 Brendan Spillane Keynote

High Performing people 

Joy is not about ourselves...
Joy is about what I give...
We are social, therefore joy is much more about what you give!

Write a letter of gratitude to someone who has been a very special person in your life!  Go and deliver the letter...

The act of being generous and good and kind to someone else is healing and good for us.

When we think about who we can be generous for we can shift a focus.

Getting above our times means we must be able to find the stairs, rise above, look down and see if our priorities are truly visible.
The complexity of the role of working in education with learners means we are asked to carry an enormous level of emotional labour.
Carrying the story of families, of hard times, of tragedies, we are always visible.
We are bombarded by sources of speed - the pace of change and life!
Technology speeds us and we need to find sources of calm... finding the source, the connection to the deep calm.

There must be sacrifice and renewal in every day.  We must build renewal into our day, every day...
'The juggler's brain' a sad phrase to equate

Multitasking is mediocrity.... not everything matters equally!
Standing in front of our learners we need to have a great deal of hope...
What will schooling be like in 20 years time?
"what does it mean to be human in these technological times...?'

Gobalisation, personalisation... two mega trends..... is there another megaatrend that might balance us out a little...
"The way we are working isn't working..." Mindful Leadership Global Forum - lets gather and talk about different ways of working and being.

We have survived because of our collaborative gene not our competitive gene.

What is our stance - we take our stance everyday - where do we put our feet!
IN relationship to each other we take a stance... our leadership has a sound, a resonance, a keynote, a word or phrase that denotes us... how comfortable we are with those we are with...

We need to stand in front of our people with a great hope in our heads and our hearts...
Humility and reolve
Dan Pink...  from drive 2009
Mastery
Autonomy
Purpose
Clarity of purpose... It is a responsibility of leadership to rise up and be awre of the clarity of purpose...

Recommended Reads

1. Let your life speak! - Find your third point of Ariadne's Thread

Find your joy - Protect your joy

When who you are is close to what you do is your joy....
Connect with yourself...
Take enough time to read our own life, our own book....

2. Write your three words down... At the end of your days, what do you want to be remembered for/as

3. Share it with a few other people - Don't stay in your inner circle....

4. Prioritise and Diarise - design simple systems and structures that align with your vision and values... and review your progress regularly...  weekly? find ways of working on the things we value and believe in....

5. Help those you lead to do the same. Be intentional about this.  Who will you be a mentor to? What will work for them?

6. Professionalise our health - Be intentional about this.  Get out of BED and row with your oars....

Absolutely MAGIC session!  So much in this to take into our lives....
Thanks Brendan for the MAGIC!

Shared Google Doc notes

The #edchatnz conference — connecting with connectors

Cross posted from the CORE Education Blog: http://blog.core-ed.org/blog/2014/09/the-edchatnz-conference-connecting-with-connectors.html 

#edchatnz was born from a dream…. Danielle Myburgh’s dream… #edchatnz — the little hashtag that could. She believed in her passion for education…. She knew that her family and friends didn't want to talk about education 24/7….

So, her dream became a reality two years ago with the inception of #edchatnz.

#edchatNZ is a community for New Zealand educators across all sectors to discuss all things education. Please feel free to use this hashtag to share anything relevant about New Zealand education. #edchatNZ conference Friday, 8 August 2014 at 9:00 AM– Saturday, 9 August 2014 at 3:00 PM (NZST) Auckland, New Zealand

In April this year Danielle's dream reshaped to allow for the MAGIC of #edchatnz online to become a face to face reality. The edchtnz blog said it all: "The steering committee has pulled together the#edchatnz conference in 18 weeks. Yes, you read correctly: 18 weeks. Our first official minutes were dated 3/04/2014."

Three hundred educators gathered at Hobsonville Point Secondary School on 8 August 2014.  Imagine the buzz as Tweeps re-connected, met for the first time face-to-face, and recognised Twitter names! The welcome in the auditorium encapsulated the MAGIC of Danielle’s dream, right through to the reality of the face-to-face conference. Wrapped around the 300 plus educators who experienced these two days face-to-face were an incredible number of educators around New Zealand and the globe connected virtually. In the truly transformative, open, sharing, networking way of the world (enabled by technology and social media) following a conference is now becoming commonplace.

The welcome by Maurie Abraham of Hobsonville Point Secondary School really embraced us. A true privilege of the day was to participate in a huge range of sessions, and also work alongside the learners and educators from Hobsonville Point Secondary School in their learning day.

Throughout the two days we were treated to a range of breakouts in what is an incredible mix of conference (structured sessions) and unconference (unstructured sessions), a truly personalised experience was afforded to all.

A very well thought-out inclusion in the conference was the challenge tasks. They were fabulous icebreakers, and a great way to really meet and get to know new people. A favourite among attendees was the ‘grelfie’ (group ‘selfie’), of which I am sure hundreds, if not thousands, were snapped and shared.

Highlights from the sessions I attended were:

• Design thinking with Dianne Carvello: Design thinking encourages us to think agile, to discover and innovate.  It is about going beyond the obvious, digging deeper to ideate.
• Personalised Learning in Action with Amy McCauley, Erin Hall and learners.
  Having visible learning, planning, sharing open for all to see; learners, teachers, parents; community. Running needs based learning workshops, negotiated with the learners.  Student and teacher agency evidenced!
• "Booktrack A new way to Learn Make reading and writing fun!" with Craig Wilson and Chazz Hill-Hayr
  Stunning results evidenced as learners experience reading in a new way!  Learners are able to add sound effects to texts within Booktrack classroom or to their own texts.
• SOLO Taxonomy in the Classroom (primary) with Pam Hook
  From the work of John Briggs, comes the very well researched, easy to use a framework that is SOLO Taxonomy. The well supported, well resources framework is a tool for learners to identify stages in their learning and identify where to next.
• Tips and Tricks for Google Apps with Amy McAuley
  Powerful sharing of a range of tips and tricks and google apps to support us.  Increasingly Google is becoming our go to for things education.
  Education Bookchat – Keys Competencies for the future (NZCER)
  Launched at #edchatnz conference is the first #bookchat, which has now become the focus book for bookchat during Connected Educator Month. Fabulous to connect with other passionate educators and begin a book list for future reads.

The power of connecting

I have always held the belief that online is fabulous, but face-to-face is MAGIC. The upward spiral is evident when we meet a Tweeter face-to-face for the first time, but we have already shared journey, a kindred spirit, a tangible connection. Online connections make the face-to-face connections more meaningful, which, in turn, make future online connections more meaningful — a true upward spiral of success.

From the very first moments in the darkened auditorium listening to the student on the piano, to the Hobsonville learner sharing her poem, to the Hobsonville primary students sharing their learning journey, their agency, through to every workshop — this conference focused on transforming opportunities for our learning.

With the most important space in the classroom or school being the space between the teacher, leader, learner's ears, this conference truly connected us, challenged us, empowered us, and engaged us. We were given agency to make the learning over these two days work for us. We were challenged, motivated, and inspired by each other. We had fun — so much fun!

There are oh-so-many opportunities for us as educators to make a difference in the everyday life of our students! Thanks to everyone who connects, cares, shares, gives…. The learning from #edchatnz conference carries on through the blogging meme.

So what’s next? How can we connect?

Where to now? Counting down until October!Connected Educator Month is going to be the most incredibly powerful opportunity for local, national and global connections on a scale not seen before in New Zealand.

What are you going to do to embrace the MAGIC of this opportunity?
What are you going to explore in your area?
Who are you going to connect with?
Who can you engage with?

Can you:

• Run or attend an educamp?
• Begin or reignite an e-teach group?
• Join #edubookchatnz?
• Run or attend an #eduignite?
• Attend Ulearn?
• Run a techni breaki at your school?
• Blog your journey?
• Share your T@I?
• Attend or start up a local f2f group?
• Join in a webinar?
• Join and contribute to the vln?
• Join or connect with a new group through social media?
• Support learning and connecting at a local retirement home?
• Support a collaboration between ECE, primary, secondary or tertiary groups?
• Become a mentor?
• Find yourself a mentor?
• Join a quadblog group?

Check out the starter resources and the toolkit for staff.

Connected Educator Month is about to kick-off!

A global calendar of free online professional learning, offered by NZ and global organisations. Make October the month that you and your colleagues connect and grow your online skills and professional learning. Become a connected educator and be part of an online, networked profession.

• Want to learn about new digital tools? Check out the Starter Kete – 31 days of activities to help you connect to educators across the globe. Grow your skill and earn recognition through badging.
• NZ Launch Week! Sign up for some of these stunning activities, 1-3 October.
• Book Groups: Sign up to explore future-focused curriculum with NZCER, and innovative design thinking with Ewan McIntosh – and win a copy for yourself!
• Pick a pathway of professional learning: Browse the calendarand join in the conversations that matter to you and your school [NZ events  /  all global events]. Show schools how/why they can become connected in term 4.
• Sign up so you don't miss the news, including the livestream from ULearn14.
• Follow us on Twitter @ConnectEduNZ , Google+ and the hashtags#cenz14and #ce14

The following two tabs change content below.

Connected Educator Month - are you ready!

Connected Educator Month is about to kick-off!: A global calendar of free online professional learning, offered by NZ and global organisations. Make October the month that you and your colleagues connect and grow your online skills and professional learning. Become a connected educator and be part of an online, networked profession.

· Want to learn about new digital tools? Check out the Starter Kete - 31 days of activities to help you connect to educators across the globe. Grow your skill and earn recognition through badging.

· NZ Launch Week! Sign up for some of these stunning activities, 1-3 October.

· Book Groups: Sign up to explore future-focused curriculum with NZCER, and innovative design thinking with Ewan McIntosh - and win a copy for yourself!

· Pick a pathway of professional learning: Browse the calendarand join in the conversations that matter to you and your school [NZ events  /  all global events]. Show schools how/why they can become connected in term 4.

· Sign up so you don't miss the news, including the livestream from ULearn14.

· Follow us on Twitter @ConnectEduNZ , Google+ and the hashtags#cenz14 and #ce14

(Thanks to Karen and Phoebe for sharing)

Melbourne reflection....

In the air – flying home – reflecting on the MAGICAL Melbourne adventure

Woohoo, what a MAGICAL holiday that was.  I can hardly believe how perfect everything was and what a wonderful time we had!  I thought it would be fun to reflect on some of the highlights:

·      Spending 8 days on holiday with my girl.  What an incredible privilege to celebrate Katie’s birthday with a trip to Melbourne.  What a delight to find that your little baby girl has grown into such a wonderful young lady and your best friend.  The adventures, laughs, shopping expeditions, sore feet, and sightseeing were all part of the MAGIC of the holiday with my girl!  Memories forever!

·      The weather was an incredible surprise!  I had been expecting days slightly warmer than NZ, but when friends posted from a cold, wet, windy Melbourne weeks before, I packed some warmer clothes.  The good news is that they were the only clothes that never made it out of the suitcase.  The coldest day was 21 and the warmest 23.  We had a couple of hours of rain on the Saturday morning but apart from that it was clear skies and stunning sun!

·      Ticking the 12 Apostles off my bucket list.  For the longest time I have longed to see them but I never dreamed I would have the opportunity to see them so up close and personal, nor believed I would helicopter over them.  WOW!  They are amazing.  The entire Great Southern Road Trip was an amazing experience.

·      The show Wicked had always appealed to me so I was delighted to get us tickets.  When I was about 8, Mum took my brother and sister and I to my first ever movie screening at the Green Island Picture Theatre.  The movie was the Wizard of Oz and I loved it.  How surreal then, to see Wicked.  I loved the sets, the costumes, the storyline, the singing, I loved the whole show!

·      Mother’s day in Melbourne!  What an unexpected bonus this turned out to be added into our adventure.  The day was action packed full of my favourite things and I think it will go down in history as one of the best Mother’s Day ever!

·      The AFL game.  I had been to an AFL game five years ago at the MCG and spent most of the time crowd-gazing as we were seated at the top of the stand in a sell out crowd.  I didn’t understand the game and can’t say I really enjoyed it.  This time I was captured by Katie’s enthusiasm for the game and the adventure.  We had superb seats near the ground.  We wore our pink ponchos and really experienced the Breast Cancer Awareness at the event. We were sitting in front of a group of passionate, enthusiastic supporters who were very entertaining.  We decided to make up our view of the rules which I have blogged about.  Apart from the fact that ‘our team’ didn’t win, it was a perfect night.

·      Shopping, shopping, shopping!  Melbourne is the dream shopping spot.  I had two things on my dream list: purple boots and a purple laptop bag!  No problems with either of those, in fact I ended up buying purple, soft grey and orange boots!  I also bought a stunning purple laptop bag which is small and will avoid the problem I have, carrying half of the world with me in my laptop bag!  I bought a number of winter clothes and a heap more.  Loads of gifts completed the shopathon, and added to a very heavy suitcase.

·      Swimming in the very warm pool on the rooftop was a real treat.  A couple of early morning swims when it was so chilly out that you could see our breath, but so warm in the water were a lot of fun.  But the highlight had to be the late night swim with the stunning views around Melbourne!  The rooftop pool on the 17^th floor allowed for stunning views up and down.

·      Total relaxation – well almost.  Sore feet aside, this was a stunning relaxing break.  I don’t think I have ever had such sore feet from pounding the pavements, or walking so many kilometres in one day such as around the levels at Chadstone Mall.  Sore feet aside – a very relaxing holiday.