The year that was - 2015

My reflection on 2015

(long overdue post I started a few weeks back)

This past year was a mix of some really wonderful times, and many periods of intense struggle. I have not blogged in months and retracted from Twitter considerably, and there are many reasons for this that I won't go into now and mentioned it briefly in my blog post a few weeks back. 

This is my annual recap/self-reflection of the past 12 months. I'm extremely thankful for the wonderful people that have been part of my journey, and the inspiration they have given me and influence they have had on my life.

In no particular order, here they are:

1 Every Classroom Matters Episode

At the end of 2014 I was approached to record an episode with Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) for her Educational Podcast show 'Every Classroom Matters' on my 'TweetingAztecs' project. The episode was recorded in January, and what an interesting experience that was doing an interview with someone on the other side of the world. The episode was aired in May (coincidently on my birthday) -Lesson Plan: Creative and Wildly  Engaging Ways to Teach with Twitter https://shar.es/16Bmus 

It was such an honour to be part of Vicki's show. I have admired her since becoming a teacher and connecting online. She truly is such a wonderful educator that shares so much and inspires many. Check out her show and blog: http://www.coolcatteacher.com/

2 Teachmeets
During 2015 I managed to organise 4 Teachmeets in the region, including two successful ones at the University of Southern Queensland Hervey Bay Campus with more than 20 educators attending. I absolutely love Teachmeets and what they stand for, the. The sharing by teachers is always inspirational, helpful and fascinating. 

I also presented at the first Teachmeet Sunshine Coast in March, and ran TeachMeet session at EduTech and presented at the same event. Teachmeets are definitely part of my future planning for 2016 and to see how we can have more in Queensland.

3 EduTech

I was privileged to have the opportunity to be a speaker at EduTECH 2015 with Matt Esterman. Originally Simon McKenzie was also going to join us, but unfortunately could not, but he was still a great help with providing resources and support. It was great working with Matt and being part of the Conference. Matt is such a generous and passionate educator, and someone that I love connecting with. He is the one that introduced me to TeachMeets and I'm very happy to call him one of my closest edu-friends. EduTECH was great to attend because I managed to catch up with some edu friends from all around the country. The conversations outside the speakers is what I found the most beneficial and stimulating. 

Picture by Helen Bremner (https://twitter.com/MrsHb)

4 Engage Summit
I was fortunate to be part of the Engagement Behaviour & Learning Summit at QUT in July. It was a great event organised by Linda Graham. It was the biggest audience I ever presented before, more than 300 people from all sectors of education. Check out some of the presentations online. Here is mine on using Social Media with my classes.

5 Masters
I started my Masters with CSU - Knowledge Networks & Digital Innovation this year and it has been extremely challenging juggling it with everything else. Two subjects down, and six to go. Along the way I managed to get a Distinction with the second subject - Design Thinking with Ewan McIntosh; and having a study partner in Jordan Grant to help and support.

6 Eric Sheninger

In May my school hosted Eric Sheninger for a workshop after I had made contact with him to set it up. It was great having him here and spending time with an educator that loves sharing his knowledge. The workshop was excellent, and just having him over for a relaxed barbecue was another opportunity to connect and chat. He also presented at the TeachMeet sessions at EduTech, and delivered a great Keynote. I look forward to meeting up again in the future and following along all the great work he is doing.

Me, Eric & Stuart Taylor

7 #28daysofwriting
Tom Barrett challenged people online to join him in doing #28daysofwriting to kickstart some creative and reflective writing of glogs. It was quite a challenge, but I'm so happy that I managed to complete it and write a blog each day. No idea how some people maintain regular blog posts, as I struggle to find the time or inspiration, but this was a good learning month with writing. Might need to challenge myself again to help this blog get a roll on.

8 Other Highlights

So much goes on in a school year, and there is so much to be grateful for. My students performed brilliantly and seeing them grow is what makes all this hard work worthwhile every year. I've had the chance to present at another school to share my knowledge of various tech tools, and helped teachers at my school become more proficient with Google tools. I helped a number of teachers write the Google Educator Level 1 exams and more to follow in 2016.There was the first ever Queensland EDCAMP, which was great to be part of and present at. The #TweetingAztecs project just keeps on going, and I have talked about it on many occasions; now I look at what else I can do. Doing a book review on TER Podcast, and being on one of the EduTECH episodes was another highlight. 

Lastly; seeing my wife get to half-way point of her School Counselor Education Masters and watching our 4 year old little girl develop, are the closest highlights to my heart. Spending time with my girls is my favourite part of every year.

I'm sure I missed a few points; but I know that everything that takes places, the good and bad, makes me into the educator that I'm becoming.

In 2016 I'm looking forward to being involved with the 3rd International Heutagogy Conference in Brisbane in May, presenting at the CSA Queensland Conference in July, continuing with my Masters Year 2, organising TeachMeets, daughter starting Prep at the school we both work at and anything else that happens along the journey.

The year that rocked and the people that made it possible

It is the end of an amazing school year where I have had some tremendous success and multiple things to be grateful for. As the year draws to a close and 2015 beckons, I thought I would write a reflective blog post about 2014 - my highlights, what I'm thankful for and the people that have inspired/impacted me. I'm extremely humbled and eternally grateful to everyone that have been part of these last few years.
(I started this before going on holiday, but only finishing it 4 weeks later).
In no particular order, here they are:

1 My family
My wife Jacqui (@JaxduT) has always encouraged ad challenged me, and a lot of my success I owe to her. My daughter Joscelyn turned 4 at the end of 2014, and I'm motivated to improve education for her future (the one that we have no idea what it will look like). They will always continue to be my most important motivation and inspiration.

2012 Family photos

2 TeachMeet at EduTECH

Early this year Matt Esterman (@mesterman) asked me on Twitter if I was interested in presenting at the TeachMeet sessions he was organising for EduTECH. At this point I had never even been to a TeachMeet, but my mantra this year was to try and say 'Yes' to as many new/different opportunities that I came across. What a wonderful opportunity and I loved being part of this event. This was the start of many new adventures that would follow in the second half of the year. Here is my blog post that I wrote about this event from earlier this year EduTECH and Teachmeet reflections 2014

3 CSA Queensland Conference 
At around the same time my schools Assistant Principal, Stuart Taylor (@sharelearning), left a note on my desk with the application form to present an hour long workshop at the CSA Conference in Brisbane. The note read "Go on, make my day and sign the form". Well I did, and in July I was presenting an hour long workshop on using Evernote in the classroom. It was another tremendous learning experience that helped me develop my own skills in presenting. 

4. Google Teacher Academy 2014 in Sydney
Being selected to be part of the 2014 GTA in Sydney to become a Google Certified teacher was unbelievable. Here is my blog post on the journey:What a journey: Google Teacher Academy 2014. It was such an amazing experience, and I'm excited for the journey ahead in 2015 to build to my 'Moonshot'. I made so many new connections and met many of my Twitter PLN face-to-face for the first time. I'm looking forward to building these connections over the coming year and being part of the Google Certified Teachers community. I even made it onto the local television news and newspapers.

5 The #tweetingAztecs Project
The #tweetingAztecs Project I did with my Ancient History class in October was so much fun, and the students loved it. Have a look at the blog post, it explains it. I was so grateful for the assistance of Simon McKenzie (@connectedtchr) in sharing his resources and what he had done. The project got noticed by Vicki Davis (@coolcatteacher) - click here, one of the most inspiring voices in education online & one of the first people I followed on Twitter, and I was contacted to appear on her radio show podcast next year. I'm looking forward to being part of her Every Classroom Matters Podcast to discuss #tweetingaztecs.

7 Student achievements
I teach seniors, and every year a new group finishes and graduates. One of the most exciting parts is looking at how they have improved from the previous. I sit down with them at the start of the year, we look at where they were and where they want to end up. Also seeing the skills and knowledge that the students have gained over the course of their time in my classroom, and then how they are applying it in other subjects or life areas.

8 School colleagues
I work with some amazing teachers, and many have been part of my journey over the past year. Whether it was as support, encouragement, challenging me, guiding me or just being a good friend. Stuart Taylor (@sharelearning), the man that started me on my Twitter journey; Robyn McCarthy (@moocargirl), passionate Middle School champion; Debbie White (@biowhitey), Biology, moderator, wearer of countless hats and straight shooter; Larry McKeown, passionate middle school teacher, good friend; Tonya Holder, another passionate middle school teacher; and many others that have been there along the way.

9 Twitter
The impact that Twitter and my PLN have had on me over the past few years has been immense. It has opened up my world to so much more in education that I could have imagined. There are countless number of people that I have interacted with and have helped me along the way. I'm extremely grateful to everyone that have been part of my PLN. Some do require special mention (I would highly recommend you follow them on Twitter), the individuals that I have interacted with often, collaborated, challenged ideas, supported and become online friends along the way:

• Matt Esterman @mesterman
• Stuart Taylor @sharelearning
• Simon McKenzie @connectedtchr
• Robyn McCarthy @moocargirl
• Andrea Stringer @stringer_andrea
• Jon Andrews @jca_1975
• Steve Box @wholeboxndice
• Corinne Corisel @corisel
• Jordan Grant @JTGrant81
• Aaron Davis @mrkrndvs
• Chris Munro @CmunroOz
• The regular #histedchat people: Jan Molloy, Brad Snell, Catherine Hart, Ilja van Weringh, Anne Gripton, Alycia Bermingham and @sallyluane
• My GTA Team Giant Leap group
• Many of the GTA Sydney people on Google+ 
• and many many more that are connecting and growing alongside me with the Twitter journey...

10 Teachmeets
Getting involved in TeachMeets this year has been fantastic. From the EduTECH experience I launched TeachMeet Fraser Coast in my region with our first event in August - click here. At the end of the year I did another more informal TeachMeet and I'm looking forward to plenty more in 2015. It is such a brilliant way for educators to share and get together.

11 Tech Tools Tuesdays
I started a weekly morning session for staff at my school where I could share some ideas, and tools that they could use. Still in its infancy, I have several regulars and hopefully next year a lot more will join in. The blog for this is not quite up to date, Term 4 was incredibly busy. 

12 Peter Grobler
I also had the opportunity to catch up with one of my old high school teachers. He is truly an inspirational man, that had a big impact on my life. One of my inspirations to become a teacher. We all need time in our lives to acknowledge these wonderful people that impacted us. Peter is a humble, passionate man, loves God and I have the highest respect for him.

Looking at 2015
I'm very excited about lies ahead over the next 6 months. More on these as the year progresses. I have been selected alongside Matt Esterman and Simon McKenzie to co-present at EduTECH in June (extremly excited about this). I start my Masters with CSU - Knowledge Networks & Digital Innovation (also very excited about this and what I will be learning). I will also be organising TeachMeets & GEG (Google Education Group) events, plus getting involved with other schools in the region. I have also managed to secure Eric Sheninger to do a whole day workshop at my school before he keynotes at EduTECH. Plus so many other ideas that I want to try with my students and who knows what else...

There are so many people and experiences that shape our lives, and we need to remember to acknowledge this. I still have a lot to learn, a lot to grow and a lot to share. I'm looking forward to seeing how my teaching journey changes, develops and progresses in the future. I love what I do, and it so exciting to be involved in Education.


PS: I forgot to add in my week as @edutweetoz, and that was also a great highlight and interesting experience. Great format with so many different and new perspectives. Have a look at this great format - http://edutweetoz.org/