Jemima, where have you been?
I'm terrible, I know. My last post was September. It's now the end of June. You could be forgiven for thinking I had died. I'm not dead but I have been doing lots of things including;
- finishing my Masters in Education
- becoming an Apple Distinguished Educator
- becoming a Google Certified Educator
- organising and delivering professional learning for educators across Western Australia
- and getting pregnant!
So yeah, I've been a little busy. And I'm the first to admit that blogging became one of the first things to go after I began my role in the Catholic Education Office of WA as a consultant. Not because I didn't want to, but my blog has always been about using digital technologies in the classroom and the journey of integrating 1:1 devices into my student's learning. I was faced with the fact that for the first time in over a decade, I had no classroom. I have a system of 163 schools instead. So what was I supposed to write about now? How do I promote and talk about educational technology integration when I'm not actively doing it myself with my own students?
I've been having a crisis of identity on behalf of my website and blog. Hence the recent facelift.
But you know what changes when you leave the classroom? Lots. Even after ten months I am still excited by the propsect of going to the bathroom whenever I need to, instead of being forced to wait for the breaks. If you're sniggering, you're not a teacher. The teachers are nodding seriously.
Probably the most obvious change when you leave a school environment and join a system environment, is the developing sense of there being a bigger picture. The piece of the puzzle that you knew intimately turns into just that; one piece of a larger puzzle. And the puzzle is hugely varied, massively complex, completely challenging and brilliantly inspiring. The whole is not more than its parts. The system is not 'more' than one student. Every student I taught in every class I had, still burns brightly in my mind in my consulting role. That's mainly because I get to talk to teachers and principals about how to engage those real kids using ICT's throughout the curriculum. But instead of engaging the kids, I'm engaging the educators. In fact, that's exactly what I'm doing in the picture above. Designing engaging Professional Development sessions for teachers is a blog post (or seventeen) that I plan to write about in the coming months. A new direction for this little blog beast.
In a few weeks time I'm off to the Asia-Pacific institue for Apple Distinguished Educators, an achievement I'm very proud of and excited about. Having met many of the Western Australian ADE's recently I can safely say that I am in very good company and am hugely grateful for their network of expertise and insights into learning in all its forms. I cannot wait to meet the wider region of educators passionate about digital learning at the Institute. I promise to blog.
And by the AFL grand final I should have a brand new baby girl to keep me truly busy. We have already bought her an iPad mini and her own chromebook and an Apple watch.
(Before I get attacked by the 'no-screens for kids' sect, breathe....and know that I am kidding).
So, yeah. I'm back.
Jemima
