Information is not knowledge

It is the greatest truth of our age: Information is not knowledge. 

Caleb Carr 

Transform ourselves...

If we transform ourselves, we have the potential 

to change the world.

Laura van Dernoot Lipsky

A MAGIC day in class...

Sometimes you have an experience that you just have to blog about...

Recently I spent time in a class who are working 1:1 on iPads.  They have the most amazing flexible learning space and they are working on individualised learning programmes.  

I have made no secret of the fact that I believed 1:1 devices could cut down on the collaboration, interaction and discussion in the learning journey.  I now find I am more open and welcoming of the opportunities 1:1 affords.

I was very pleasantly surprised to experience: modelling; sharing; teaching; learning; challenging; justifying; questioning; inquiry; searching; summarising; and oh, so much more...

I was able to talk to a number of learners and hear their reflection on their journey.  These learners were clearly able to articulate their privilege; their choice of own pace learning; ubiquity of access; ability to work in high trust environment; opportunities for instant access to learning support; ability to record and re-visit learning; built in breaks... and much, much more.  

I am aware that this has most definitely not happened by chance or happened overnight... This programme is inspired by an enthusiastic, passionate teacher who is travelling a very exciting journey with these learners.

I will follow this journey with incredible interest as we journey a very exciting learning time for our students!

Queenstown MAGIC!

Sharing the snow experience…

Last night it was snowing heavily as I drove into Queenstown and I woke up to a white blanket wrapping the town in its freezing hold! 

Schools are closed and roads home are closed and south to the school I was to be in tomorrow are closed, so here I stay.

The true benefit of a fully blended work role meant I was able to work away and enjoy the beauty of this place.

Late in the day I had the privilege of tweeting a school in Auckland with some photos and skyping a class.  This was amazing as I was able to share with them the look and feel of the snow… even showing them snowball throwing…

I promised them snowman photos so set off to walk downtown not wanting to risk driving the rental car… Well, about two blocks along and the slope became unmanageable… boots and snow – not a good mix!  A taxi ride downtown and off I set in hunt of snowmen… I had limited success, but did find a cute little snow family keeping an eye out from the Queenstown Green!  

A coffee at Patagonia and a lot more photos, followed by a taxi ride back up the hill to dry out and warm up!  I hope you enjoy these photos.  I had a lot of fun making the snow angel and the cute little snow girl on the table…

My car is safe in the basement downstairs but this is probably what it would look like if it was out in the snow!

I would love to answer your questions about snow and skype you tomorrow if you would like to see it again…

Giving...

Direct from the Smile newsletter to you...

"Giving is so often thought of in terms of the things we give, but our greatest giving is of our time, and kindness, and even comfort for those who need it. We look on these gifts as unimportant - until we need them." - Joyce Sequichie Hifler

The Secret

I just feel the need to post this message in full tonight.... A Secret Scrolls message from Rhonda Byrne Creator of The Secret From The Secret Daily Teachings Whatever you want to bring into your life, you must GIVE it. Do you want love? Then give it. Do you want appreciation? Then give it. Do you want understanding? Then give it. Do you want joy and happiness? Then give it to others. You have the ability to give so much love, appreciation, understanding, and happiness to so many people every single day! May the joy be with you, Rhonda Byrne The Secret... bringing joy to billions

A Mother's day like no other...

Well… that is a Mother’s day I will never ever forget!

I took Mum to church in the morning and she was really not well.  I got her home and back to bed and was feeling the day was not going quite as planned as I was hoping to bring her home to my place for brunch.

Can you imagine my surprise when I pulled up the driveway and saw Katie standing at the top of the drive……

The little monkey drove down from Christchurch to surprise me for Mother’s day. What a MAGICal day we had!  We had a stunning brunch and got some great family photos on the back lawn. 

I got another gorgeous heart for dream of an aroha wall from Jason and he helped my hang my collection to date.  This really has been a very special Mother’s day full of love and time together and the creation of very special memories.

Katie and I went to surprise Mum and owe what a surprise it was for her.  She was sooo excited to see Katie again!  

We spent the afternoon chatting and catching up and as the afternoon wore on I began to dread the thought of Katie having to drive all the way back to Christchurch on her own!  I hopped onto the Air New Zealand site and booked myself a flight home from Christchurch for Monday!  YAHOO!  Katie and I fitted in two visits to Lauren and Nana, had a coffee at Starbucks then headed off for Christchurch!  What an awesome drive.  We talked non stop the whole way.  We had a yummy dinner in Timaru and arrived at Katie’s flat by 9.30.

What an incredible Mother’s day.  I got up early and worked online for the morning then shot out and fueled up her car, took it through the carwash and bought her a tiny oil filled heater to take the chill off her bedroom.

Back to work online, dealing with my emails, planning school visits for the term and updated online.  I am truly in love with the power to work in a fully blended way.  It really doesn’t matter where in the world I am, as long as I have an internet connection I can work.

At 5pm Katie dropped me to the airport and here I am flying home.  What an absolutely incredible Mother’s day!  One I sure will never forget!

Thank you Katie!  You are a truly wonderful daughter!

A mother's heart...

A mother's heart is the child's classroom.

Henry Ward Beecher

A mother's heart...

A mother's heart is a patchwork of love.

Author unknown

The MAGIC and mystery of metamorphosis...

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.

Buckminster Fuller

Give your heart to your work...

Your work is to discover your work and then with all 

your heart to give yourself to it!  

Buddha

Do your little bit of good...

Do your little bit of good where you are; 

it's those little bits of good put together 

that overwhelm the world.

Desmond Tutu

Timelapse potential

Recently timelapse has re-entered my thought patterns.  I have used timelapse with such success in the past and want to reflect on some of the potential I have explored:

·      Science learning – particularly monarch caterpillar life cycles

·      Class creations – the bottle bivy creation

·      Class space use – set up and record a day – review and reflect on use of learning spaces

·      Teacher position – set up and record a day – review and reflect on where I work and who I spend time with

·      Art creation

Recently on twitter I followed a story of educators creating timelapses to record journeys to share and compare.

I was inspired to create some of my own. 

My first effort of dawn breaking over the Taieri Plains was recorded with shots at far too frequent intervals and is only useful if skimmed through on fast forward.

My second attempt of dawn breaking over Lake Wakatipu was much better but I was an hour too late to fully record the transformation from dark to light at dawn.

My third attempt was on board a flight to Wellington.  Greg and I were discussing the timelapse potential and we came up with Panolapse or Timorama; the ability to record a panoramic timelapse of a journey.  Our first effort was hilarious with elbow cam giving way to tape cam when the gorgeous airhostess gave us a roll of 3m tape.  We condensed the shots to a 3 second playback instead of a 3-minute playback but we realised the potential of panolapse.

Here, we issue the challenge to you… Wherever you travel next, have a play with creating a timelapse panorama of you flight!  Share the clip through some form of social media and grow the phenomena.  How interesting would it be to share these and challenge viewers to guess where you were travelling identifying landmarks along the way, or predict the smoothness of the flight by the cloud formation or the time of day or season of the flight… the potential is limitless. 

How could you use this?

Dream...

You're never given a dream without also being given 

the power to make it true.

Richard Bach

Givers and takers...

There is a very real relationship, both quantitatively 

and qualitatively, between what you contribute and 

what you get out of this world. 

Oscar Hammerstein II

AAAA = Amazing ANZAC Autumn Adventure

Today Mum and I headed off for a drive to Naseby.  We had a wonderful lunch stop at Dansey's Pass Hotel then reminisced our way around Naseby!  Home through Ranfurly with afternoon at Kissing Gate cafe in Middlemarch completed an awesome outing!

Aaaa = Amazing Anzac Autumn Adventure Slideshow: Anne’s trip to Naseby (near Ranfurly) was created with TripAdvisor TripWow!

Nelson adventure… Time spent with colleagues, friends,

A day of professional discussion with team south and team central north gathered together rolled into a night of discussion.  How powerful it is to be together face to face again.  I cast my mind back many years, listening to Karen Melhuish-Spencer sharing the wonder of online connection being elevated when we come together face to face.  What a day we had together… discussing our journey, weaving pathways, sharing the journey… Together we are much more than the combined sum of our individual pathways.  As we share, we inspire, empower, enable and enrich our experiences.  We are able to grapple with challenges, share opportunities, connect and collaborate.  We are able to discuss, share and reflect on our WHY?

As we led into the afternoon session it was an incredible privilege for me to share my Monday night’s eduignite talk with the team.

What a powerful reflection it is to think about where we are going, who is on the journey with us, who we are looking out for, who is looking out for us, are we innovating, are we sharing, are we travelling at the right time and speed, do we know where we are going and will we know when we arrive at our desired destination?

I feel incredibly supported in my personal and professional journey to be part of a family who nurture, challenge, extend me and celebrate with me.

Day two of my adventure was professional learning at L@S Nelson.  Gathering with 200 educators from around the upper half of the South Island, what a privilege to hear the story and learning journey of passionate educators!  I journeyed an e-literacy path with Jill and had the opportunity to share and hear the power of placing an e-learning lens over he literacy programme. 

I walked into Tahu’s story of Ko wai ahau, which empowered me to share my story, my visual mihi and above all really connect with my audience when I present.  Thank you for the power to use tools to add Reo to my teaching and learning.  Thank you for the gentle way in which you empowered us. 

I was in awe of the opportunity to travel the journey with local educators Emma Watts, Rebecca Power and Jamie Power.  I was moved to tears in both presentations by the sheer authenticity of the collaboration.  What a privilege to feel the learning, to see the learner at the heart of the learning, to truly feel the story.

Day two rolled into a wonderful gathering of old and new friends around a table to share the MAGIC of the day and continued into the evening with a shared meal.  The opportunity to continue the discussions and reflect on the day not only magnifies the learning, it creates new pathways, new opportunities, new collaborations, new weaving together!  Again, the power of connecting with passionate educators is realised and we are significantly enriched by the experience.

Day three began with brunch at Mapua, looking over the water, reflecting and building on the MAGIC of the journey to date.  Following this was the opportunity to walk into Emma’s story as I travelled to her school and spent time in her class feeling, sharing, living the learning journey.  The richness of the discussion made me realise all over again the very REAL need to walk in someone’s footsteps to live their journey.  Emma, you inspire me, you enrich me, you make me realise the privilege of where I have been and where I am going.  I want to take this experience to my schools and realise the power of walking into the class with the educator to really feel their story, their dreams and their aspirations!

Lunch at Brightwater with Emma, Bec and Jamie was next! Again I hark back to the power of the online relationship to enhance the face-to-face relationship and off we went again on another fabulous meander through our education lives.  A tour of the local area and a visit to Nayland Primary School added yet another layer of MAGIC to the journey.  Time did not permit a visit into the magical class of Bec and Jamie, but I am returning for this pleasure.

Safely delivered on time to the Nelson airport I began my journey home.  A stunningly short, smooth flight to Wellington gave me quite a stop over there while my connecting flight was delayed. 

Back on board now, heading home I reflect on the journey.  As always it is soooo exciting to be heading home where my gorgeous family awaits me.  As always it is great to reflect on the conversations shared, the dreams glimpsed, the journeys shared, the paths crossed, the aspirations breathed, the potential for this adventure to transform my practice and future journeys!

Goals I take forward from this adventure:

·      Family always comes first

·      Listen to listen as opposed to listening to respond (thanks Greg)

·      Share your story

·      Walk in the footsteps of others – walk into their class, listen to their story, feel their story

·      Take time…

·      Respond with wonderment and awe to all that is around (thanks Janelle J)

·      Reflect on every adventure

·      Get in amongst any opportunity to collaborate

·      Empower others

·      Celebrate alongside others

·      Always look for the opportunity to spread MAGIC

MAGIC is all around, it is in the people we meet, the places we go, the things we do, the stories we share, the air we breathe.

Thank you Nelson!  I am enriched because of my experiences with you!