Flying home from Google Summit – brain on fire…

WOW – what a whirlwind MAGICAL two days!  Possibly the best two days of back to back PD I have ever taken part in!  Why so MAGICAL?  Time to reflect on some of the possible reasons for this:

·      Intimate size – 300 participants is a lovely sized crowd;

·      He tangata, he tangata, he tangata – the amazing educators from all around the south who are so bubbly and keen to interact;

·      Venue – great venue where we are all together for lots of time;

·      Unconference style where we have freedom to choose as sessions at will, anytime, depending on our needs, where one session takes us, what is recommended;

·      Overwhelmingly open sharing by MAGICAL presenters;

·      Range of sessions;

·      Value of all the sessions I attended;

·      Sheer volume of new learning;

·      Ease of use of Google Apps;

·      Ever session fully supported with resources making the experience fully rewindable;

·      Having our whole team present so we can take this learning, reflect on it, grow and use it in our facilitation;

·      Pride in CORE being a major sponsor;

·      Pace and timing of the sessions – one hour for each session with each presenter totally maximizing that time, followed by a half hour break to allow us to dig deeper, or share with others, and socialize –very valuable break times;

·      Fluidity and flexibility of the sessions and programmes – adjusted to meet the needs of the participants.

What do I now need to do to make the absolute most out of this learning opportunity?  I am going to start by setting some goals:

v I am going to be recklessly creative;

v I am going to continue to dream out loud!

v I am going to continue to notice and share MAGIC anywhere and everywhere;

v I am going to live blog;

v I am going to really make google sites work for me and meet my needs;

v I am going to carry on the conversations both face to face and online so that this learning truly carries on, these conversations continue;

v I am going to increasingly explore creative ways to gather and share evidence of my inquiry;

v I am going to start my presentations with google form surveys and allow my participants to share their needs and challenges, and take it further by empowering them to analyse the results and dig deeper into data gathered;

v I am going to explore ‘google a day’ challenge;

v I am going to research and read more about TPack and incorporate this learning into my sessions;

v I am committing to really maximize the potential of engaging with my literacy mailing list subscribers;

v Explore critique protocol with our team – look at how we can use this to benefit all;

v Storify day two of GAFE Summit and share it online, alongside Pauline’s day one;

Teehee - done!  Thanks Pauline for creating day two!

Storify of GAFE summit day two!

v Try to blog at least 4 times a week….

A HUGE list I know….  But it is great to have a list…

And it is so important to remember that it is okay to go slow, it is okay to take my time, it is okay to make a start and keep moving…