My little space in the world

This is the last instalment of ‘Deidre on tour’ – and I don’t know where the last four days have gone!! I’m currently sitting in Auckland airport.

Friday is all a bit of a blur to me now – I think the jet lag had kicked in by then and I was operating in a different time zone to the one in which I was in!!

Friday started with us having to present our presentations again – for supposedly an hour. We were told that we would be presenting these to the teachers from the ‘School’s track – the innovative schools’ and if we had a Brazilian doll on our stand, we would have judges coming around too. The Brazilian doll meant you were in the final lot of teachers who were being considered for the awards – and I had one on my stand!!

We had no idea how many judges were coming around – and mine started off VERY badly with the Phillipino judge being my first one and half way through my ‘chat’ with her – she said ‘That’s enough’ and walked off!!! I didn’t take that as a positive!! What I wasn’t counting on were the remaining 11 judges who all ‘chatted’ at different times – and so what was to have been an hour – was well and truly over 2 because not only did you have the teachers from the schools coming around, you also had the teachers who weren’t in the running coming around and enquiring about the project too! At one stage one of the judges came up to me and said ‘I have been trying to chat with you for over an hour, but others keep on beating me to it’ – so as you could imagine the intensity was quite high.

Later in the morning we met back with our group in regards to the Collaboration project and spent the afternoon sharing these with others, and looking over a range of projects that involved some new Microsoft ‘free’ software (I like free software, as it means that you can promote it with schools and teachers, without them having to consider if it is ‘worth’ buying. They can get it, look at it, use it and THEN consider the benefits that it might bring to teaching and learning in their classrooms.)The programmes we looked at included ‘SongSmith’ (you write the lyrics, pick the backing track and then sing it – and wahlah – you end up with a soundtrack!!), Autocollage, which collages photos – good for having students categorise or as a ‘stimulus’ for discussion in the classroom, along with Deep Zoom Composer which is another image manipulation programme.

The final keynote (at 5pm) was from Jean ?? . By this stage I wasn’t just in another time zone, I think I was on another planet – but the adrenalin and the company of the stimulating others was enough to keep me going. His keynote was fascinating – he is apparently one of the most influential men in the world in regard to global affairs. Did you know that currently the world is using 125% of the reserves we have? It is estimated that by 2020 we will be using 200% of our reserves – that doesn’t paint a good picture for 2050 does it? He believes that it only requires about 10 trillion US$ to solve this problem and to begin to break the habits and cycles that are present and contributing to the problems. He believes that this should be more than possible considering the US$17 trillion that was used to save the US banks last year – where are our priorities?

We had less than an hour then to get ourselves ‘glammed’ up for the gala dinner. As I was to be checked out and gone by 7am Saturday I decided it would be a good idea to have myself all packed before then – so it was a bit of a rushed job but I got there.

Yet again the Aussies were fantastic – for the final evening they kindly changed their title from the ‘Australian team + the kiwi’ to the ‘ANZAC team’. We were bussed to the National Art Gallery where there was the most fantastic marquee set up. We were greeted by Brazilian women in their large dresses – dressing us with beads and silk ribbons, before being entertained by drummers, dancers – and oddly enough wind instrument players. There was a huge police presence about, as well as many of the young children from around sitting up high on the fences above us, looking down to the venue and the action. From within the marquee we were then entertained by the Bahia Symphony Orchestra (a gift to the conference by the President of Bahia State).

The awards were announced and while I wasn’t one of the winners – I was in great company. ‘Aussie Mark’ won the Collaboration award, and Mandee the girl from the UK who I had spent Tuesday exploring the city with, won the Community award. Both were well and truly worthy of their awards and I look forward to keeping in some form of contact with them – to watch further developments that they may be involved in.

The Gala dinner certainly had the ‘Brazilian feel’ to it – plenty of ‘wild’ dancing to crazy music and lots of fun. We were taken back to the hotel about 1am, however people were on that much of a high it would have been rude to have left the celebrations and the friends that I had made over the past four days (of whom many I feel like I have known for much longer!). We obviously had to celebrate Mark’s win, and did so in style!

It was then a short sleep before I headed to check out and catch my plane in Salvador airport – however when I got to the departure lounge there wasn’t a plane to be seen! The language barrier was much more than I had ever expected. While Portuguese is the mother tongue of the Brazilians, Spanish is their second language and very few know English. We found this quite prevalent even in our hotel, with there only being one or two of the hotel staff that you could ask questions of. Thank goodness for the events company as they were able to deal with any issues that did arise. Anyway the difficulty with the delay at the airport, was that the notices seemed to be coming over in two different languages – but not English!!! Luckily one of the keynotes was on the flight too, and he was a fluent Spanish speaker and so I was able to ask him of the notices coming over. Luckily – as there were another 8 people from the conference on the same flight and I never heard one of them speak a word of English!! On getting on the plane I then had my stomach sink as it seemed that about 12 of us had our seats double booked. Who was going to fight for the seat?? As it turned out the Canadians had arrived at the airport as they saw our flight heading to Sao Paulo, and with the language difficulties had decided that this was the flight that they needed to be on!! The frightening thing was that they had gone through two lots of security with their boarding pass and no one had noticed!! So after they got off the plane I had a seat and after a 2 hour delay we were on our way to Sao Paulo!! With the delay I worked out that I had to get myself to the departure lounge, with about 30 mins up my sleeve. I did this and then we had another 2 hour delay in Sao Paulo!

With all the delays I then didn’t have much time to fill in in Santiago, and had no trouble in sleeping the 14 hour flight away to Auckland. Is was nice to be back in NZ – even if it was 3am – and getting a bed at the hotel here was like heaven!!! The relatively short flights then to Chch and Oamaru were quick and enjoyable.

I found Brazil really expensive (and here I was thinking that I might pick up a few bargains!!) I had bought tee shirts in the markets for Roly, Sam and Allie (just 1 each) and these had cost me 85 Real (about NZ$75). I was keen to get Sam a Brazilian soccer jersey – however at 160 Real (about NZ$150) I decided that would be a bit extravagant!! Here I was thinking that I was going to be bringing back HUGE bags of cheap souvenirs and tees!! I did go away with 22.8kg of luggage (LAN Chile have a limit of 23kg!!!) and this included my kiwifruit soaps as my ‘gifts’ for fellow attendees. I seem to have acquired a bit from others as leaving Brazil my case weighed in at 28kg!! Luckily TAM (the Brazilian airline doesn’t worry about that – and at no stage have I been charged extra!!) I did repack by bag in NZ to get it under 25kg, so was pleased no one wanted to weigh my hand luggage!! I really don’t know where all the extra weight comes from – although each night you would come back to your room and find a Microsoft gift – sunblock, caps, tees etc, and of course there are the wide range of gifts acquired from other attendees – pencil holders the shape of Columbian sombreros, dynamo torches, pens, pen drives, pins, clips, beads . . . .!!!!!!

The experience has been great! I have met some fantastic people and had my mind opened up to many new life experiences. For example the Columbian women was at the conference as her innovation was that she had the village parents make handcrafts that were sold so that they could purchase 15 computers in their school! The teacher from Losotho, who used mobile phones, as they didn’t have power in their school, and the kids could bring the mobiles from home all charged up and use at school, right through to the likes of Mark and Mandee, who literally have world changing projects and innovative practices influencing the students they teach and the teachers that they work with. Michael Furdyk (who worked with the student forum in KL – the multimillionaire by 20, and now only 24 – has been named as one of the 20 most likely people to influence the 21st Century who was also at the conference) has approached Mandee in regards to how she can be a part of his ‘Taking It Global’ – the worldwide project which is connecting students worldwide.

It has truly been a privelege to be a part of this programme, and I feel that my personal as well as my professional life has been enriched as a result!

This is to let you know that I am safely in Salvador and feel like I have had a BIG adventure already – and the conference hasn’t even started!
It all began at 9.30am on Monday 2nd November when, the Oamaru to Chch flight needed a ‘practice’ take off with alarms and bells before the real one happened. We stood in the Chch-Akland plane at Auckland for about 15 minutes while they had trouble with the air-bridge and I was also close ‘wanded’ and had my bags swabbed in Auckland!! In Sao Paulo (after being in Santiago) my flight was changed from LAN (with whom I had flown from Auckland to Santiago, and from Santiago to Sao Paulo) to TAM and me with very little Portuguese or Spanish (– in fact none – except for my phrasebooks!!) – and the locals with very little English, found my way (somehow) to a little LAN office in the back of the airport where a lovely young man (who spoke English) was able to direct me to the correct airline to fly to Salvador. In getting through to the domestic departure lounge I was down to just my trousers and tee shirt as my jewellery, watch and shoes were taken off me to go through the scanner!!! I was starting to get worried that if the bells went off again I would be creating an even bigger security risk by taking anything else off!! It was odd sitting in Sao Paulo Airport at 8pm Monday evening – only 11 hours later than I had supposedly left Oamaru, however it had taken a 26 hour trip to get there!! By the time I reached my hotel in Salvador – I had been travelling for 32 hours!

Brazil is football crazy – and I could tell that just from the airports!! There are all sorts of replica football things everywhere. The TVs in the lounges play soccer (even indoor soccer – which looks like there are thousands of spectators at the match!), and the young kids in the lounges (boys and girls) are watching intensely and passionately as if their lives depend on it!

I have felt pretty good, despite all the travel. The sleeping pill I took from Akld to Santiago allowed me to get 6 hours sleep (that’s more than I get at home sometimes!!) and then I caught another couple of hours in the next legs.

The hotel is FANTASTIC!!! Not one that our usual school budget would extend to – and my view over the beach looks fantastic in the dark – I am expecting big things of it in the morning!

It is now 1am Tuesay morning and I have been up for something like 39 hours. I’ll post this and head to bed, and try and keep this updated when I can!

How exciting to think that others can see the benefits of using Blogs like this. I want to share with you two schools that have started similar such blogs after seeing what we are doing. Jono Young at St Joseph’s, Timaru has his Year 7 & 8s with the blog http://taniwha.edublogs.org/. Sally Morch from Greytown School has also started one with her Year 4 & 5 students – http://www.room7readinglogblog.blogspot.com. They are sharing their books in text and pictures and will be adding their podcasts in a couple of weeks time. Keep watching the developments with these too!

The mentors have added a new dimension by trying to make contact with some authors – and now we have hit the jackpot!! Aidan’s post on Kate De Goldi’s ‘The 10pm Question’ has had the most inspiring post by the author herself. Click on the link and read for yourself!  I can’t wait to see Aidan’s reaction tomorrow at school!

After 3 days away from school (2 at CORE in Christchurch with the other e-fellows) it is nice to be back in the company of my wonderful bloggers! The excitement for today is that Aidan has had a reply from Kate De Goldi’s agent in regards to his post about her book ‘The 10pm Question’. He has sent her the link to his post and so we now wait in anticipation to see if she makes a comment on his post. Lucy has also really enjoyed Tania Roxborogh’s book ‘Limelight’ and so she would like to try and make contact with her in regards to the post she is currently putting together. Others are now talking of other New Zealand authors such as Vince Ford that they could read the books of and try and contact!

This is giving even further interest and adding another ’spark’ to our programme.

Well where do I start?

• 7 of the 10 ‘Buddies’ have had running records taken that show 5 of them have made significant progress in the term on the programme. One of them has shown 2 years improvement since February and another 1.5yrs since February. This is significant.

  When I chatted with them about why they thought that they had made such a jump they both told me that they felt better about reading since Bloggers, and that they know that they can read. One of them also told me that he liked it that others were interested in what he was reading.

• The Mentors have asked for more sessions – as they feel that while they enjoy working with the Buddies, they would like to have more time for themselves to post to the blog!
• One of my mentors is moving to Oman in a week. She has asked if she can still contribute to the blog from there!! – Of course she can!!!
• And then today – one of the mentors is in Samoa with his family on a holiday (wedding I think!). We has made this fabulous post about visiting the home of Robert L Stevenson, and sharing some of the information about his life in Samoa – I never knew Robert L Stevenson spent the last five years of his life in Samoa!!! How neat is that? Josef’s Post
  
   

I have made it to the market!! Haven’t bought a lot but it was nice to be out and about (even if it was 1am NZtime!!!).

The Opening Ceremony yesterday afternoon was quite an inspiring collection of speakers – Head of Microsoft Malaysia, the Malaysian director of Education and this young guy (26) who created his first online company at 12 and sold it at 16 (for $1 Million US!!!). He now has ‘Taking IT Global’ where he creates online communities of students who share ideas and work for the greater good of the communities that they are working in. There is also a student forum here – where 15 students are working collaboratively to create projects that they will share with us in the afternoon. We have a NZ representative – Marcus Gold who is from Te Awamutu. What an amazing young guy (17) he is. He was put up on the stage in front of about 150 people this afternoon and answered a whole lot of questions from the floor about what education means to him, what he expects from teachers and how we can be more effective in our roles. All answers were off the top of his head and he was more articulate than many teachers (dare I say it!). He is really doing NZ proud.

The people here are just amazing – all the others who are presenting are all such lovely people – friendly, collaborative and exciting people to be around. Our NZ group are great! For a group of people who are literally strangers there is such a great feel – no one thinking that they are better than anyone else and all very supportive of what each other are all doing.

Yet again we have worked all day – from 8am until 5.30, although I must say the food is amazing – at breakfast you can have anything from Malay to Chinese, Thai etc, or even bread and butter pudding!! My favourite is the wee guy who makes you an omelette – it is just like choosing a subway sandwich!!

Tonight we were taken to an exclusive resort for dinner – Tamarind Springs. An absolutely incredible place in quite a serene and tranquil setting. The roads in KL are crazy – everything seems to go around in circles. Tonight it took us about 30 minutes to get there in buses and then we got back in 10!!!

Today is going to be another long and busy day. The collaborative projects that we did yesterday were handed in digitally to the judges yesterday afternoon – who then select the best 6-8 (out of 20) that are to be presented. We then sit around and listen to these, and then have the students present in the afternoon to us. It is funny – but in most of our groups, the NZ people have been the ones chosen to talk to the presentations should their groups be chosen.

The ‘Gala Ball’ and Closing Ceremony is also this evening.

Well our judging is complete! It has been a really interesting process to be involved in. Our selection to here involved presenting in the same way in Chch last year. In that way we seem to have quite an advantage. Many of the other participants have only submitted on line to qualify for here and are going into a bit more of the unknown than we were. It was interesting though, as our Kiwi posters were just that – a 2D presentation – some had gone as far as to have items draped all around, and multimedia too. In seeing all of these things coming out this morning it was a bit daunting – however I am sure that the impact of our message and our innovations is more effective, because of the stronger focus and lack of distractions.

It is really interesting looking around the posters – WHAT IS INNOVATION????? Is innovation demographic? For us as Kiwis it is really clear that our innovation isn’t in the tools or the ‘flash’ things (although we do love Michael’s flashing electronic circuit!) but it is in the pedagogy- the way our students direct their learning, the way we are flexible with our ‘teachable’ moments, the way in which we follow the direction that arises rather than keeping students on ‘our way of thinking’. Yes – the ICT allows that all to happen – but I believe that it is managed rather than taught. Who are we as teachers to tell students what technologies at a certain time, when they know there is a better way of doing something from their own experience?

This has been a real eye opener for me. As english speakers we have had a huge advantage in being able to clearly share our ‘point of difference’. It is quite humbling watching someone for who English is a real struggle, reading from a sheet of paper and struggling with this. Have they been able to share their point of difference or are they being sold short? For me it really shows how ICT is a catalyst for change regardless of where you are or what language you speak.

Another message that has come through clearly for me is that while we are continuing to talk about being ‘connected’ across the world through ICTs in using the likes of Web 2.0 tools – the face to face opportunities are also being established ans heightened. I believe that the ability to use web 2.0 tools to connect people is just the beginning – what they do once they connect continuously or in Face to Face is even more powerful!

Yesterday was a WOW – What a day! Our whirlwind tour of aspects of the city has been hugely eye opening!! It has also been incredibly hot and humid (so much so that even the Malaysians are complaining about the it – 38 degrees today!)!! We spent the morning touring with our groups where mine visited an Anglican Church, Mosque, Hindu and Buddhist temples. I feel quite cleansed!! The cultural diversity in this city is dominant and it was interesting to look at how these religions are similar in some ways and so different in others! The challenge of working with non-english speakers has been an interesting exercise. While our ability to communicate has been restrictive, I think it has also been interesting to see how all of our knowledge of ICTs in classrooms is diverse too! We had one person in our group who seems to have all of the latest, flash equipment, however as yet we haven’t seen him use any of it!
Photos from our ‘Field Trip’
BubbleShare: Share photos – Play some Online Games.