What a journey: Google Teacher Academy 2014

I attended the Google Teacher Academy in Sydney during the recent school holidays, and what an incredible few days it was. It has taken a while to write this blog post with an assignment deadline the following weekend and then getting ready for the start of Term 4, but my mind has constantly returned to the GTA in Sydney. I was extremely excited to be selected to attend the GTA this year with 50 educators from all over Australia and New Zealand. It was a 2-day experience at the Google Offices in Darling Harbour under a completely re-envisioned GTA led by Tom Barrett and Hamish Curry from NoTosh & Google's Suan Yeo. It was 2 days of intensive sessions, with 'Design Thinking' the focus in guiding a group of teachers that will lead change.

Google Teacher Academy, Sydney 2014

Before the GTA started I had no idea what really to expect, I watched and read about previous GTA's and then, when it started to emerge that this was going to be completely different it really intrigued me. This GTA was not about tools, it was about pedagogy for change and building a strong network. The major focus was all about 'Moonshot Thinking' and creating your own big idea to take on. 




We had been divided into 8 different groups with a mentor assigned to each group. My group was Team 'Giant Leap' led by +Matt Ives from Wellington. Part of this brilliant group were +Julie Lindsay, +Daniele Casolin, +Maria Bousnakis, +Kimberley Sutton, +Therese Horley and myself. I fantastic group of educators that exchanged and challenged ideas, and supported each other. The whole process of Design Thinking was new to me, and an invaluable experience. Going through the different stages of the process was challenging and ultimately very rewarding. One of our main focus areas was working through a 'How Might We' task. This involved completing this prompt: How might WE ACTION for WHOM in order to CHANGE SOMETHING. This would provide a clear sense of purpose for our 'Moonshot'.

This was my statement after a bit of deliberation with a few people and some reflection:

The term 'Learners' refers to both Teachers and Students. I'm excited about the prospect that this statement presents. How to connect and build a network in Maryborough, the Fraser Coast, the state of Queensland, Australia and beyond. 

In the next few blog posts I will start pulling some of the ideas that have come from this process and how I plan on launching into it over the next few months. 


A lot of the events and Google Offices were covered in so many other blogs and here are some of the brilliant blog posts that explain a lot about the 2 days, and makes it unnecessary for me to rewrite it again:


#GTASyd14 - It's Google Teacher Academy, but NoTosh you know it by +Claire Amos 

Google Thinking, Lone Nuts and Moonshots by +Steve Mouldey 
Google Mission Control [#GTASYD14] / Destination Moonshot! by +Justine Driver 

#GTASYD 2014 - Feet on the Ground, Head in the Clouds by +Aaron Davis 

Teachmeet Fraser Coast: The 1st TeachMeet Fraser

Teachmeet Fraser Coast: The 1st TeachMeet Fraser: On Tuesday 26 August the very first TeachMeet for the Fraser Coast region took place. My first experience of TeachMeets was during EduTech 2...

Twitter momentum & 'The Question'

My journey with my Twitter PLN has really gained momentum over the past 12 months. Since attending EduTech in 2013 I have become more involved and interested in using Twitter for educational purposes and professional development. I joined Twitter in 2012 after my AP Stuart Taylor (@Sharelearning) discussed it at a staff meeting. It was a slow start, with some heavy use and weeks of no use to start with. I noticed it took me close 18 months to get to a 1000 Tweets and about 150 followers. In the past 12 months I have tweeted about 2500 times and gained a further 450 followers. The growth is carrying on exponentially. There are a number of reasons and individuals that have brought this about.

Last year I delved into my first Twitter chat, #histedchat every second Wednesday. It was such a fantastic experience being able to connect, share and discus with other history teachers from many different places. I made contact with so many new teachers online, and this gave me a real encouragement to get even more involved. This first chat saw me connect with individuals that I still connect with very regularly, Matt Esterman, Simon McKenzie, Ilja van Weringh, Jan Molloy, Catherine Hart and many more. It spurred me on to host my first ever chat, I moderated the #histedchat session 'Teaching History in the 21st Century' and it was a great learning experience. 

Along came 2014, and my Twitter journey has really taken off over the last six months. Matt Esterman approached me to present at the TeachMeet during EduTECH 2014, and I'm so grateful for that opportunity. It was a first for me with regards to speaking publicly, and I loved doing it. A few weeks later I was presenting an hour long workshop at the Christian Schools Australia Queensland Conference in Brisbane. Another first, and a very rewarding comments from participants. The momentum is just gaining steam, I have applied for the Google Teacher Academy in Sydney, created a 1-minute video for it. Holding thumbs I get in, but if not, I will keep on applying and perfecting my use of Google Apps in Education. I then presented in Bec Spink's Evernote in Education Hangout on 7 August. Another great experience and learning opportunity. I'm looking  forward to using hangouts with my students in the coming weeks. Now my next big event is TeachMeet Fraser (#tmfraser) which I'm organising to try and get teachers in my region together to start connecting, sharing and exploring digital possibilities in teaching. I'm grateful to Matt Esterman & Steve Box for their help and guidance getting this started. I love the concept of TeachMeet and the potential of different educators getting together to share.

Through sharing and connecting I have gained many new followers, but also found countless educators for my PLN that contribute to my own development. I have joined into various other chats whenever I had the opportunities, like #edchat and #aussieED. All of which open the doors for greater connections between educators all over. Twitter surely is the best professional development tool, global staffroom, group of experts, network, friends, and so much more combined. 

The question however is, why are there still so many that are not using it?

Independent life-long learners in a restrictive system.

I have hit a bit of a conundrum (quite like this word) in my senior classes. In my History classes I have my students do 2 research assignments each year. In both Year 11 and 12, Ancient and Modern History. I try and keep the topics nice and broad to give students I diverse range of topics to select from. In my Business classes I do something similar to encourage creativity in marketing with the choices they could make and how they can present it. All these subjects lend themselves to allow students to be creative and to tap into their own interest. 

Now I have two problems. Firstly the Queensland system. The senior system follow Verification and Monitoring procedures, where a panel of teachers get together for a region and review student work. They look for evidence matching the criteria in the students work to make sure an A, B, C, etc is consistent across the state. Last year I had students produce a range of multimodal and written tasks that were brilliant, and of the highest quality. But, I got criticised by certain panellists that they struggled to find high A-standard evidence in these types of assessments because they have never attempted doing it themselves or seen it done like this . Some students wrote music lyrics and score for an Ancient History unit on Judaism, there was a board game for the Egyptian afterlife, video documentaries, websites for conference presentations, historical fiction, graphic novels. These I find fascinating and the students love the choices that allow them to express history research in different formats. 

Secondly, there are students that struggle with the freedom and being asked to be independent. They want you to tell them the answers, tell them what to do, give them the topic. They have been conditioned into believing that they cannot do it themselves or come up with their own suitable ideas. I don't know how they have gotten to this point and it is an uphill battle to change this thinking. 

Quite often our education system is very rigid with not a lot of scope for creativity in senior classes, and the focus is always on ticking boxes. The students often do not really invest themselves in the learning process, all they are after are the grades. I'm trying to change this, as there is so much scope and fascinating areas in History and even in Business (mainly marketing and not-for profit ventures). I'm hoping my passion for the subjects, my drive to see them excel no matter what methods they use to present their tasks; and that their own interests are grown and developed. I don't want 20 students doing exactly the same writing, presentation, topics or responses. I want them to be individual, creative, critical, independent and have their own intrinsic motivation for learning. That is the challenge, to develop these independent life-long learners in a restrictive system.

Evernote @ CSA Conference 2014

Towards the end of last year the Assistant Principal nominated me to present at the Christian Schools Australia Conference in July this year. I was excited and nervous at the same time about the prospect of speaking to a group of educators in an hour long workshop at a big Conference. My topic would be 'Blended Learning: Using Evernote as a LMS to raise the academic bar'.

I had many ideas and resources collected over the years that I could select from, and I had just done a completely paperless class experiment in year 10. I followed this up by getting rid of all my paper folders and scanning everything into the cloud. I use Google Drive as my storage space, but my documents are backed up in other places too. Now I am trying to get rid of more paper as I move through this year.

I constructed a detailed presentation that expanded a lot on my EduTECH Teachmeet talk from June, as this one had to be 60 minutes rather than 7 minutes. I used some fantastic resources that can be found on Australian Evernote Education Ambassador Bec Spink's Website - http://becspink.com/evernote/.
Also various resources from Evernote.com page and my own examples created from my classes. I covered the basics of Evernote, what I have done and what are the possibilities for teachers in using Evernote in schools and in their personal lives. The workshop went very well, and there were a number of 'wow' moments from the attendees. That was a sure indication of success in conveying the message. Many of the attendees stayed around afterwards, asking questions, getting further advice and I have had some make contact with me already asking further guidance.

I have estimated over the past 2 years I have introduced Evernote to about 100 students and teachers at my school and now at other schools. I love sharing my passion for Evernote, its possibilities and its usefulness.

EduTECH and Teachmeet reflections 2014

EduTECH 2014 lived up to my expectations and exceeded some from the 2013 event. So much more going on this year, and different speakers. Some familiar faces, speakers and topics that have dominated some of my twitter feed over the past 12 months. My highlights from the Conference included the Teachmeet sessions, Dan Haesler, Ewan Mcintosh, Ian Jukes and Sir Ken Robinson. The common theme in all the talks related to the fact that we need to change education, need to change the way schools are run and policies are made. We need to serve the needs of our students better by preparing and offering them the best opportunities to grow.

Ewan McIntosh focused on Agile Leadership, and a key point i took away from that is to focus on one thing at a time, there will be struggle, but at the end do it well. This resonates with how I used Evernote from the start, I have obsessed and focused on using it well, integrating it into all aspects of my life. I still struggle at times, but it is becoming more and more natural in all my teaching. 

Dan Haesler on students engagement also fits in well with my thoughts that should empower our students to change the world. He said that every single child has the power to change someone's world, and that is what we need to remember. The concept of relationships being key to engagement is also part of my own teaching philosophy, and an area that I hope to keep on improving. He had a great slide that showed this:

Ian Jukes concluded the event with his keynote, which was very powerful and energetic. His topic of 'Education being in a Disruptive Innovation Age' was very interesting, challenging and the perfect way to conclude the event. His message needs to make it though to the policymakers in education, we need a new mindset in education for the future.

It is 2 days of intense non-stop conversations and presentations that inspire and challenge education in Australia. Finally meeting some of the people that I have connected with online was a highlight for me. The Teachmeet event that was organised by Matt Esterman was a wonderful privilege to be part of. I shared this stage with so many amazing and inspiring teachers. My topic was on Evernote and how I have used in my classroom this year. Here is a link to the presentation (click on image): 

I'm hooked on the Teachmeet concept and look forward to starting my own Teachmeet up in the Fraser Coast region this term. It is a fantastic experience to be part of and one of the best forms of professional development for educators. Look at the http://tmsydney.wikispaces.com/ site for more information. Here is a list of the presenters from EduTECH sessions.

TeachMeet Session	Timings	PRESENTATIONS
Day 1 - Session 1 Hosts: Matt E	1:30pm-2:15pm	1. Ewan McIntosh - teacher ;-) 2. Rob O'Brien 3. Michelle Jensen 4. Simon Crook
Day 1 - Session 2 Hosts: Steve B	3:15pm-4:00pm	1. Cathie Howe 2. Steve Brophy 3. Richard Prowse 4. Jacques Du Toit
Day 2 - Session 1 Hosts: Simon C	10:40am-11:25am	1. Jill Andrew 2. Jessica Leonard 3. Nadia Merchant 4. Rachel Kathriner
Day 2 - Session 2 Hosts: Simon M & David G	2:25pm-3:10pm	1. Simon McKenzie 2. Annalise De Mel 3. Nicola Martin 4. David Gall

Now I look forward to the second half of the year, to continue connecting, learning, sharing and applying some of the new ideas.

A start in reflection

At the start of June I had the privilege of attending EduTECH in Brisbane, visiting a number of Brisbane independent schools and present at the Teachmeet event during EduTECh. I travelled down from Maryborough early on the Monday morning with two other educators to visit four schools during the day. It was a quick stop in with these schools that were very accommodating in giving us their time and helping us gather new ideas. We had visits to Grace Lutheran College, Northside Christian College, Somerville House and St Aidans Anglican College. All these schools have different areas where they are extremely successful in and it was a wonderful opportunity to hear from these educators about their practices with their senior cohort to raise the academic bar.

That evening we joined a number of former students that are studying at universities around Brisbane for a meal. Great to see them, and hear about how their studies were going. This brought memories of two of my previous posts;  Relationships are the key and The end of 2013 chapter. One of my driving forces in education is the role of having strong positive relationships with your students. The development of mutual respect, understanding and trust form a recipe for success.

The 2-day EduTECH conference was again a wonderful opportunity to listen, learn, connect and interact. I will have a separate blog post on some of my key take-aways from EduTECH later this week. I was also fortunate enough to have presented at the Teachmeet event during EduTECH, organised by Matt Esterman (have a look at his blog - My Mind's Museum). I will also have a blog post coming on this soon.

There was so much going on after driving back from EduTECH late that Wednesday night. Over the next 4 weeks there were assessments to grade, reports to write, meetings, athletics carnival, plus multiple other admin to get done. Now i will attempt to gather some thoughts of the past term, with particular focus on EduTECH and Teachmeet events.

Looking forward to sharing these soon.