The Climb

I've spent the last 7 years in the most amazing school. I started teaching at Elm Park School in the Juniors. Exactly where I didn't want to be when I was in Teachers College - I stayed teaching Year 1/2's for 3 years! Funny how sometimes the things you think you'll hate are the ones you love. I've learnt a million and 1 things through my time at my school.

I've been given endless opportunities and have had the chance to excel and develop my own style as a teacher. In the last 2 years my abilities and knowledge in e-Learning has been recognised with the chance to become an e-learning specialist and lead a team of talented ICT lead teachers. These first 7 years of my career have been a huge opportunity and I have loved every part. I have watched students grown and change - some have been in my classes for 4 years over the span of my teaching and have also watched me grow as a teacher. In the specialist role, having the chance to work with all the students across the school has been amazing... even made me want to go back to teaching Juniors... almost! :) But, balancing 2 jobs in 1 day for a confessed workaholic (thanks Mum and Dad for those genes!) is hard and my heart really is in the classroom making these things and more happen for my class, at the moment! So the decision was made that 2009 was the year to move onwards to new challenges - a new school and to return to the classroom fulltime!

The students I've had the privilege to teach in my 7 years has been immense... they are such cool kids at EPS. Every single one has taught me something about myself and the way I teach - they have made me the teacher I am today. At the Cultural Celebration evening many of our past pupils return - having them come up for chats and catch ups (or even just to show me how much taller than me they now are!) is mind boggling. Staying at 1 school for a while gives you the chance to see whole families grow and learn - it gives you links and roots that can never be shifted. My farewell assembly from the kids was overwhelming. I will NEVER forget the dance off with the boys... many laughs and many tears. I thank these kids for everything they have taught me and I dream big things for each and everyone I have taught.

I could never begin to thank the older people who have made me who I am today - without these people, I would be a different person. But I thank them and hope that they do truly realise what a difference they have made to me. I've had people around me that have seen the light in what I do and encouraged me and pushed me, when I didn't see it. People who love my crazy nature and tolerate it - if not celebrate it alongside me! It's these people that I'm finding the hardest to move from - that, for me, is a good thing. I have made friendships that will span a lifetime and these people are more than just colleagues. From my fellow e-Learning nerd - BJ, to my Auckland Mum to RC to KT who was the first massive influence for me at EPS to LA & GT who have been a lot of inspiration and support to LR, SR, LC, RV, AH, VA and CD who are all stunning teachers. These people are all massive influences because of the people they are and have been to me - I thank them for everything they know they have taught me and everything they don't know they've taught me.

As with all experiences there have been challenges. Ones I've known how to face and ones I haven't. Once again the people who have surrounded me have helped, encouraged and reminded me of who I am and where I am. It's been a hard climb in places but I have learnt a lot about myself and that is always a good thing. And as they say - Challenges are what makes us stronger.

My decision to leave has not been an easy one. But I think, I know, that the formula that I am heading off to is right. So for now, 1 mountain is moved and another awaits...

Image used under CC: Ryan Smith Photography

Misstep & Tumble

Since purchasing a Canon SLR I've been loving heading off for photo missions with some of my best friends and by myself.

Some of you already know about my keen interest in Digital Photography and my photography blog Misstep & Tumble. For those of you that don't - head over to keep an eye on what I've been up to!

If you are a keen photographer leave a comment with your blog so I can check it out too!

K12 Online Conference

It's due to kickoff very shortly... here's just some of what you can expect!

k12online09flyer-GMT

The Fun Theory

Catching up on my blogs (can't you tell) I came back across a post from Naketa that I loved the first time and have loved everytime after that. It's a Volkswagen initiative called The Fun Theory. It's based on the concept that if we make the mundane more fun - people might do it more. Here are two examples:

Walking Stairs:



Recycling Bottles:



Picking Up Rubbish:



I think this is a great concept. Naketa has talked about challenging her kids to see what mundane tasks can be made more fun... I wonder what my class could come up with? They have a competition that is open til the 15th December where you can enter your ideas and the top ten entries will be revealed. First place offers 2500 Euros too!

Blogger Templates

One of the best sites I've found so far for Blogger templates has been 'BTemplates'. They have a massive range of templates that cover a range of styles.

Their sidebar navigation makes it simple to navigate through all of their templates by searching through layouts such as 1 to 4 column layouts through to searching by styles and colours. There are over a thousand templates here, I'm not guaranteeing that you'll find 1 you love as I often find myself contemplating between 2 or more!

Thinking Past The Square...

Some of you will know, but some of won't. Previously I started blogging at edublogs at Thinking Past The Square. When some of the changes started to take effect with edublogs I made the shift over to blogger. I still think that edublogs are an amazing blogger platform and provide the best help I have seen yet! But for me, it came down to costs involved.

So if you want to read my older posts and find some handy how to's and more head back to Thinking Past The Square and have a read!

Google Wave Gadgets

One of the coolest and most helpful items you can add to a wave in Google Wave are the gadgets (click here for the google gadgets tutorial). When you start google wave you have 2 gadgets as a standard.

One standard gadget is the google maps gadget where you can pin point locations as a map that zoom right down to a street level. The maps sit within the wave without having to embed code or send someone out on an external link


The second standard gadget is a 'yes/no/maybe' voting gadget that places people at their desired answer when they vote. A great wee tool in a group discussion to get a clear picture of people's choices!


There are lots of site's coming out with links to gadgets that are being created by people. One of the best and simplest lists to navigate that I have found so far is here at Chaaps.com. It's an easy list to get through and has a range of fun and handy gadgets from the sudojku gadget through to the Ratings gadget.

The gadget function is not all fun and games. In a group setting when you are organising events gadget's such as the 'yes/no/maybe' do away with a lot of the backwards and forwards emails when planning and organising. Your map goes out to everybody and any changes can be seen by all and are noted as soon as you log in to google wave.

This would be a great way to collaboratively work within a team or for students to work when planning inquiries or investigating. It allows you to track who has posted work/comments but also easily allows for clippings, links, images, video and more to be linked or embedded within the wave giving you a complete overview of the journey in the inquiry process.