Finally time to begin to reflect on the MAGIC of the
week. Leaving Dunedin at 5.45am last Monday to fly to
Hamilton wondering what was in store from the inside of Ulearn as a ‘yellow
lanyard wearer’. Jane and I met up with Kathe and Michael at Wellington then
headed off to Hamilton. Great flights
and met by the wonderful Jill Hammond who took Kathe and I for a coffee at
Casalinga café. Sitting in the sun in
Hamilton, the MAGIC began.
One real highlight in my week was the wonderful Anna
Gerrittson picking me up and taking me to visit her class. I really appreciated this opportunity and
loved seeing the journey with innovative learning spaces, shared classroom
space, and exciting learning opportunities for a gorgeous new entrant
class. Thanks so much for involving me
in your journey Anna. Keeping in touch
online is great but face-to-face is the real MAGIC!
Back to catch up with the CORE team and off we went for
set-up at Southwell School. What an
incredible school. We set up all the
classes and put up signs ready for Ulearn mobile on the Tuesday. I am finishing the week presenting at
Southwell so I have the role of photographing the classes so we can put them
back together at the end of the week.
Off to café for lunch, then to Peachgrove Intermediate to set up for
ATANZ. This is the first year with three
conferences rolled into one and a wonderful opportunity to have ATANZ
involved.
Back to the Claudelands event centre for the pure MAGIC of
envelope stuffing. I really am in awe of
the organization that goes on behind the scenes. This is also a very special time to get to
know the team and have a whole lot of fun anticipating the week ahead. After that it was the fun of packing up the
presenter’s gift bags… Fun, and of course a little bit of competition packing and stacking. I checked out the rest of the venue. As the teams were packing up from the Home
and Garden show, it is hard to envisage this venue being ready for 1500
educators…
Out for dinner to Ginger Thai and a lot of laughs and good
times with an incredible team. Then it
was time to check into our motel for the week.
Off to bed eagerly anticipating Ulearn Mobile tomorrow…
Up early uber excited for a MAGICal day and a MAGICal day it
was indeed. What a moment as Luana bestowed
upon me my first yellow lanyard…. My first role of the day was registration at
Southwell for the Ulearn Mobile day!
What a privilege. I absolutely
loved meeting and greeting new friends and old friends. I just loved the incredible BUZZ of educators
gathering together reconnecting. The
morning flew by and after a scrumptious lunch in the stunning old wordly dining
room it was off to the library for our BYOD unconference panel session…
What a wonderful session. The panel shared, broke for questions, then
broke into groups to meet the needs of the participants. A highlight for me was Derek's sharing around learning centre as opposed to learning centred! I thoroughly enjoyed the conversations around
the WHY of BYOD and the transformative potential of devices.
All too soon the session was over and we headed back to
Claudelands for the Powhiri. No matter
how many Powhiri I am involved in I am always moved to tears by the privilege
of a truly unique NZ celebration and welcome. I am increasingly able to catch
words and phrases that I understand and I renew my commitment to learn more
reo.
What a wonderful welcome for Ken Shelton, the LA keynote and
what a wonderful moment as he thanked the group for the welcome and talked of
breaking down cultural barriers.
From the powhiri we shared kai then it was off to the Ulearn
Showcase. What a wonderful
opportunity. We were inspired by Stephen
Knightly, Nat Torkington, Lyn Silcock, Megan Iemma, and Claire Amos. Then it was up to Fiona and I to talk in hash
tags to introduce #Ulearn Unconference, #Breakout 5, #Arena Lounge, #1.45,
#Thursday, followed by Emma Winder introducing her Educafe and Karen Melhuish
highlighting the social media opportunities for the week. And the showcase was hosted by the amazing John Fenaughty and Chrissie Butler, who really focused us on the 'all that glitters' gala dress up potential...
Out of there and off to Mexico for the e-fellows
dinner. What a wonderful opportunity for
us to realize the dream that the fellowship is forever. We were able to connect with e-fellows across
the years and eagerly anticipate the announcing of e-fellows for 2014 on
Thursday morning.
Back to the motel to crash…
Wednesday morning alarm rang out all too soon and off we
headed for the registration desk at the Claudelands centre. The first educator came through the door at
7.22am – impressive! A stunning bunch of
hosts from Diocesan Girl’s school welcomed the delegates and I had the pleasure
of meeting and greeting and supporting.
The welcoming keynote was Ken Shelton who really instilled
in us the need for fun and connecting in our learning journey.
Next stop – Social Media Station where I would spend a lot
of the week, welcoming, supporting, filming, editing and tweeting. Breakout two I presented in the Arena lounge,
my first e-literacy workshop. The long
thin room was packed and it was incredibly hard for the people to see or hear
me from half way back. All too soon the
session was over.
The afternoon in the social media centre, learning from
Catriona and Renee the MAGIC of vox-pop movies capturing snapshots of the
Ulearn experience from the delegates perspective.
The day drew to a close for the delegates with the reception
in the Trade Exhibition Arena. What a
wonderful opportunity to meet, connect, share, chat, wine and nibble, all the
while checking out the latest and greatest in the way of equipment, resources
and support for education. Off again to
an early sitting at the Mexico for the twitter dinner. What a laugh… off all the venues in Hamilton,
here we are two nights in a row at the same place. Great to connect and catchup with fellow
tweets.
Thursday morning dawned with the opening keynote by MarkPesce. As he journeyed through the
history of technology he arrived at the point of hyper connectivity, a time
where learners no nothing other than connectedness and collaboration. Our role as educators must be to model and
nurture the relationships our learners have both face to face and online as
they connect.
My time of creating vox-pops saw me working alongside the
incredibly supportive Catriona and Renee again.
What an awesome opportunity to learn alongside others in a team where
there is no ego. We are all about
growing and sharing and collaborating to build the knowledge and capacity of
the team.
During morning tea and lunch we filmed and I was able to
edit one voxpop in the gap. An early
lunch, a quick catch up with Fiona Grant, then it was off to the Arena Lounge
for our Ulearn unconference session.
What a wonderful session this was.
I first met Fiona in July 2011 at educamp Tai tokerau and I am even more
in awe of her now. I loved the
opportunity to work with her, learn from her and have fun with her as we put
together our session and a resource to support others to run future educamps. A real highlight was the speed geeking
session, which drew Becky up from below to see what all the chatter was
about! Speed geeking is an awesome way
to really connect and share a snapshot in a short space of time….
Hot on the heels of our unconference session was Emma Winder’s educafe session. I loved the opportunity to experience this
session and really realize the power of world café to take a discussion deeper
and further. I had the pleasure of being
the table host and relished the opportunity to facilitate our table learning
journey. I have experimented with world
café in class for maths and writing motivation and also used it to kick off
educampdunners. I thoroughly recommend
this approach to a shared learning journey.
Back to the motel for a quick change and off to “all that
glitters” gala dinner. WOW, what a
stunning site. There really is something
about putting on a costume that brings out the fun side. The place is a riot of glitter and bling and
laughter… Inside the arena, that has been transformed into a stunning
conference dinner setting. The meal was
scrumptious, the band superb. Dancing
our way through the night celebrating. Right
across the team that is CORE were smiles, giggles, glitter, dancing, good
times. What an incredible privilege to
be part of this team. Home before
midnight I think I was almost asleep before my head hit the pillow.
Friday morning and I woke before the alarm. Down to the Claudelands Event Centre by 7.45
and upstairs for a quiet space to re-focus and re-work my repeat e-literacy
session. Taking onboard the challenges
and provocation from the keynotes I am starting with a chance to really focus
on the challenges and think about how these will impact on literacy learning
immediately. I am such a gregarious
social butterfly that I was surprised how much I enjoyed one hour of me time
working away on my own.
Straight into the Social Media Desk I welcomed newbies to
twitter, chatted and connected with new and old friends alike. A scrumptious brunch and it was time for the
bus to Southwell for my fourth and final presentation in the dining room. What a stunning room for a session. The room rapidly filled and a call went out
for more chairs. I started the session
with an opportunity for educators to gather in year level groups to reflect on
the challenges issued so far at Ulearn and the opportunities to impact on
learning and learners. Into the session
and I was immediately in awe of the collaboration, sharing and wealth of wisdom
in the room. Google Presentation continues
to challenge us for collaborative editing on iPads but this group rapidly
delegated to those with laptops and our resource grew. I ABSOLUTELY
loved this session! What a
privilege to work with such a motivated, committed group of educators on a
Friday morning after the conference dinner… As the delegates rushed of to bus
back to Claudelands for the closing keynote, Greg and Jill and I returned the
rooms at Southwell to their previous state.
Off back to Claudelands we were privileged to journey with Dame Cath
Salmond.
All to soon the event centre started to empty… All too soon
the educators raced to catch flights, to drive back to Auckland… Almost hugged
out, only the CORE team remained. As we
dismantled and packed up I quietly reflected on the privilege of being a part
of Ulearn13 from setup to pack down.
What a TEAM. I am totally in awe
of Becky and Luana. They are consomate
professional who go above and beyond the call of duty repeatedly, always going
the extra mile to make sure everything is done for everyone. I was incredibly privileged to work with and
get to know Sherry and Gweeny as they are retiring from the Ulearn event. I loved my time with the Social Media Team,
the events team, the technical support team, in fact I loved everything about
the opportunity to a part of the inside of Ulearn. I was privileged to room with the wonderful
Chrissie. Thank you awesome lady, for a
truly wonderful week.
A long time ago I said “when I grow up I want to wear the
yellow lanyard”. I have worn it and am
in awe of the privilege. Yes, we work
hard, we play hard, we are committed to an organization that is all about
growing everyone, nurturing everyone, inspiring everyone.
This is a very personal reflection on my journey. As the days and weeks go by, I anticipate a
wealth of chatter as we share our journey.
The twitisphere continues to grow and share the learning. The challenge is to take away and use any
opportunity to transform outcomes for our learners.
·
What will we do to make a difference?
·
What will I try during term four?
·
How will I make sure I am allowing my learners
to create?
·
Who will I keep in contact with?
·
How will I use my PLN to harness my ecosystems?
·
What will I do to reflect on and grow my
practice?