21st Century Learning

World Environment Day in New Zealand

Kia ora from New Zealand.

The 5th of June is World Environment Day - an international initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme.   This year,  New Zealand is co-hosting the day, and we have a range of activities
and initiatives planned.

To recognise the importance of the day, all our schools & kura, and our early childhood centres and kohanga reo, have been encouraged to
consider some 'eco-tasks' they might do (for example, :"today we are
planning to have a no-plastics day at our school") and they will also
be considering and sharing their future plans relating to
sustainabiity and climate change.    We have developed a website Show
the Way Today: World Environment Day http://efs.tki.org.nz/wed which
provides more information.

A world map
----------------
On the 5th of June we will reveal a world map on the site which will
feature pins for each of our schools and early childhood centres,
accompanied by their 30 word sustainability pledge.   For example, a school's sustainability pledge might :

"Kia ora.  We are Motatahi Area School in the North Island of New
Zealand.  We are aiming to introduce a recycling system in our school
by December so that we can to reduce the amount of rubbish we create  by 10% "

Invitation to overseas schools
--------------------------------------
Our students would like to invite overseas schools and students to be part of our  day, by asking them to share their own 30 words "sustainability pledge" on our site.   If you would like to do this, please email me your message, plus your school name and address, and we'll do the rest. Our goal is to have a mapfull of pins on the 5th, showing how schools around the world are keen to share their ideas and sustainabilty planning with their peers.

We would be delighted if you would like to be part of our day..

Best wishes

JILL
[email protected]
for Show the Way Today: World Environment Day
http://efs.tki.org.nz/wed

ABPC 21st Century Learners Quarterly Meeting

While I obviously haven't been blogging- I have been fast at it. I would say I have been busy, but Dean Shareski (our new convener for K12Online)  has taught me we are all busy and I am not suppose to talk about how busy I am, but rather just talk about what I have been up to lately.

I keep a running "to-do" board above my desk. Lately, there have been too many "to-do" items to fit them all. My life is full of meaning, exciting and that word I am not suppose to say (whispering ...busy). So busy in fact that I forgot to share about one of my most passionate interests.

ABPC 21st Century Learners- Year 3 Culminating
Anyone who has followed me knows that one true passion I have is the incredible work I am helping to deliver in Alabama around 21st Century literacies. On May 1 we had our culminating celebration for this year's 21st Century Learners journey.

What Was Different in Year 3?
In a word-- students. ABPC's leader, Cathy Gassenheimer felt this year's project with schools needed to have an clear connection to student achievement.  We wanted to developmentally move teachers along the continuum of use and understanding of the transformative potential of 21st Century teaching and learning strategies to actually applying them in the classroom.

We created a student strand and added students as members of the team. Together we looked at how to change teaching to a self-directed process tied to student passion and rigor, as well are core curriculum standards.

During the culminating event students and other team members were led in a fishbowl exercise that turned out to be the most enlightening experience I have had so far in working towards 21st Century educational reform. Students were asked hard questions about how they learn best and evidence of those strategies used by teachers in classrooms. They were asked what do teachers need to change to be the kind of teachers that would help you learn best? Their answers were profound and I realized for the first time I think-- if we would just ask kids what they need, they know and would tell us. Wow. What a concept.

Here are some of the projects from Alabama this year:

WinterboroSchool
Our theme is:  Taking Technology to the next level- The competitive level. Our teachers have worked in harmony to help our students take their individual projects to the competitive level.  We decided to encourage and help our students to compete on the local and state level using 21st century skills we have introduced and use in the classroom throughout the year. Winning at this level helped validate that we can compete in the local and state arena using these newly acquired skills.  The publicity has also been great for the entire county.  It has been a great success.  We will display our students’ medal winning projects along with the bling bling they have won in the process. 

West Blocton
For our student project, we created a wiki. On this wiki, the students would choose a book to read that they wanted to carry on a conversation about in the wiki. Then, they would rate the book. Next, they would write why they rated the book the way they did. The next few sentences had to include a comprehension strategy that they used while reading the book. Whichever strategy they used, they had to support it with text and tell what detail from the story made them use that strategy. Then, they would write a sentence to try to encourage others to read the book, even if they gave it a low rating.

Finally, they would look at other responses other students had made and carry on a conversation about their book.

Hewitt-Trussville Middle School
Our team created a wiki as a resource for the teachers.  The wiki contains descriptions, examples, and uses for 21^st tools in the classroom.  The wiki also contains information about project based learning. 
You can find out wiki at http://21centurylearners.wikispaces.com .

Challenger Middle School
Challenger 21^st Century Team Group project:
Our professional development project is called "iTeach 2.0" and we invited the middle schools in our district to become a part of iTeach 2.0. Each school sent two teachers to a workshop we sponsored to learn about 21st century tools. We established a wiki for our team and participants to use to share ideas. Our April face to face meeting was a type of fair where each school shared a tool or project that they successfully used this semester. Our computer will display screen shots from our wiki and our display board will define data collected and cool tools explored during this year’s iTeach workshops. Our wiki is http://iteach2-0.wikispaces.com .

Student Project:
We invited 18 students to commit their own time to work on a project they would select. Twelve saw the project to completion. We gave three basic guidelines: the students must develop their project around an issue that affects teens, the project must help someone, and the project must be communicated using technology tools.  Our students brainstormed on their own private wiki and were very passionate about teen issues! They decided that they wanted to work on a project related to poverty. The students then researched and decided that they wanted to adopt an impoverished school in another country, which led them to Uganda. They formed an Invisible Children Club to raise money.

The students created posters, a website and a multi-media embedded PowerPoint to present to the student body. They learned so much about war torn

Uganda and the suffering of the children there. They have a basic knowledge of how this war started. The amazing part is that we have not taught this information to our students. They have taken a project with very few guidelines and have learned so much! For this year, the project culminated in a fund-raiser, which raised $1778 in 3 days! This has become a project that encompasses many of the 21st century skills. Our students are learning about society, geography/history, communication, discernment, teamwork and many other skills.  We will display a computer with a timeline/info about their project work and their presentation.  We will have an additional computer with screen shots of their webpage. Their website is http://www.freewebs.com/guluschoolproject/

George Hall Elementary
Collaboration is the main thesis for our project. This year collaboration projects includes Skype interview with Janis Kearney, diarist for Bill Clinton and author of "Cotton Fields of Dreams",  Elluminate session with children from the Dominican Republic and a weekly Skype collaboration with 5th grade students in West Blocton Al. We continued the wiki field trip project using Scaling where the students were proactive in the production of the projects to go online.

Blossomwood
Blossomwood Elementary's team project for 2007-2008 has been to obtain more technology resources for classrooms and adequately train teachers on how to use these resources.  Promethean ACTIV boards have been purchased for all classroom units and teachers have attended both training at school and online training from Promethean.  Today, Blossomwood is displaying some sample classroom flipcharts, as well as flipcharts that were used to train the faculty.

Clay-Chalkville High School
We will be presenting a Power Point presentation that highlights some of the work that our teachers have created with their classes to enhance student learning, as well as to promote communication between the classroom and the home.

For instance, we have teachers that have created wikis with the main purpose to keep the students and parents updated on assignments and projects that are coming up. At the same time, other teachers use blogs to allow the students become more involved in the learning process.

Discovery Middle School

Middle School will showcase our journey from local to global connections through a photostory.  We will highlight our challenges and how we have overcome them.  We will also share our current projects that will lead us to district wide integration of Web 2.0 tools.

Mt. Laurel Elementary
Sharing Web 2.0 Tools
Mt Laurel Elementary School is a K-3 school right outside of Birmingham. We are in our second year with the 21st Century Learning Team.

Our team's focus project was sharing Web 2.0 tools with our faculty. We conducted a survey to determine awareness and use of Web 2.0 tools and found that very few were aware of Web 2.0 tools, and even fewer were using them.

As a team we compiled a resource list of Web 2.0 tools. We held a meeting with our teachers and presented an awareness training to share the uses of each tool. We shared examples of how we had been using these tools and how students could benefit from using Web 2.0. We also encouraged them to let us help them set-up any of the tools they would think they would like to use in their classroom.

As of today, the number of teachers that are using Web 2.0 tools has changed by 60%, compared to when we initially took our survey. We now have grade levels participating in projects and teachers using these tools to create works with their students. We have teachers participating in book studies using Wiki’s, classes and parents blogging, podcasting galore, but most of all the awareness of the many tools that are available to each of them to enhance their class lessons and projects.

Cullman Middle School
Collaborative project-based teaching aligned to state content standards, reviewed by students. That is our lofty goal with this wiki. For 2008, we have selected 4 courses to focus on: Social Studies, grades 7 and 8 AND Computer Applications, grades 7 and 8

This project is designed in conjunction with the Alabama Best Practices Center's 21st Century Schools professional development. The project will be developed by a team of teachers and students from Cullman Middle School.

We hope that this will be a treasured resource for educators across the state, the country, and the world. Depending upon the success of the site, we hope to add additional areas of study in the future. We recognize the level of learning and retention of learning that project-based lessons hold for students, as well as the interest it adds to classes. On the outset, this seems like a project designed to aid teachers, and it will do that, but more importantly, this project will aid students in fostering a deeper interest in learning. With the Computer Applications courses, we are fortunate to be embarking upon new territory. At this time there are not specific standards for grade levels, only grade bands. This project will assist us in focusing on learning objectives and organizing those objectives in a sensible format. The student team will be comprised of students involved in

Cullman Middle School's SWAT (students willing to assist with technology) team. The teacher team will select a student team leader that will serve as a liaison to the teacher team.

Dean Road Elementary School
Our team sought to showcase the various ways we use the Smart Board to communicate more effectively among staff members and students. An immense part of our daily communication begins each day with our morning broadcast, WDRE, which features fourth and fifth grade students as broadcasters. Other grade levels are involved by reciting the pledge of allegiance and sharing the daily weather. All parts of the broadcast are viewed through the use of the Smart Board.

Not only do we begin our day with the Smart Board we also use this valuable learning tool in many other ways throughout the day. We display our morning messages, share interactive websites embedded in our daily lessons, and research an endless amount of information that can be easily displayed for all to see. This beneficial tool as helped foster communication through shared lessons created on the Smart Board software that assists teachers in planning and presenting the curriculum in a way that increases the students’ motivation to learn. The Smart Board, found in all classrooms, has become an irreplaceable learning tool that teachers and students just can’t seem to live without.

Fayetteville High School
The Fayetteville High School team has led a 21st Century Learners initiative for 10 schools throughout Talladega County. Modeled after the training sponsored by the ABPC, the FHS team, along with other teachers from Winterboro School, have served as mentors to over 20 teachers in their school system.  The team will display the materials used for this project as well as evaluations from some of the participants in the program.

Wrights Mill Road Elementary
Tech-Know Expo
5th grade students brainstormed topics related to technology that interest them.  Then, they volunteered to teach those topics they felt they were “Tech-sperts” in.  The students prepared presentations for the younger grades and invited parents and members of the community to attend.  Topics ranged from “Lights, Camera, Pinnacle in Action,” to iPod 101 and “How to Convince Your Parents to Let You Get A Cell Phone.”  Students taught about blogging, making avatars, using Blabber, and the latest and greatest in text messaging.

Computer World New Zealand Article

Computer World NZ posted this article after attending my workshop given in Wellington, New Zealand. They just about got it right, only two minor errors. First, as I was introducing Will Richardson who greeted the Kiwi educators through Skype, I shared a story he tells about Wikipedia (crediting him)-- in this report they left that part out. It is still makes a great point the way they tell it though. And secondly, Darren Kuropatwa (In Canada) was the math teacher, not a US math teacher. Let me know what you think of the article.

Complete Article Available here

3G phones put NZ ahead in education tech

Web 2.0, advanced technology for handheld digital communication and a willingness to innovate in education places New Zealand at the forefront.

By Stephen Bell Wellington | Thursday, 29 March, 2007

New Zealand cellphone calls may be expensive, but we are further into the third generation of cellphone technology than many Western countries, including the US, says Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, an educational technology specialist from Virginia.Nussbaum-Beach was keynote speaker for the Tuanz education conference last week.

She says the confluence of Web 2.0, advanced technology for handheld digital communication and a willingness to innovate in education places New Zealand at the point of a “perfect storm” for new uses of digital technology in education.

The internet, and particularly Web 2.0 tools such as wikis, blogs and social networks, has given this generation of young people a new outlook on information and learning, Nussbaum-Beach says. It will no longer be possible to teach them in traditional ways that rely on the teacher as the font of all knowledge and memorising as one of the chief elements of learning.

There is little point in committing a huge number of facts to memory when they are immediately available, with latest updates, in response to a simple web query. Emphasis will, rather, be on the creativity of the student; what they can achieve by combining and interpreting information from different sources — including their fellow students and other people accessible online.

She cites the case of a student who uploaded his draft research paper to Wikipedia as an article, watched while knowledgeable people corrected his mistakes and added further information and pertinent references; then downloaded the result as the final version. A conventional teacher would have said “do your own work”, she says, but it’s hard to draw a firm ethical line between this kind of interaction and the normal process of consulting authoritative sources.

Web 2.0 will bring to the fore both an increasing range of instruments, such as 3G cellphones, for using the internet and a variety of software agents, tailored by the user to scan the internet continuously for the latest information on a particular subject. Agents will also take the form of “avatars”, representing the users themselves, and relating to other avatars in virtual worlds such as Second Life.

Skype is “an amazing tool for the classroom” Nussbaum-Beach says, allowing a class to bring in an author or expert to discuss their book or field of study with a class. She demonstrated this at the conference, calling a mathematics teacher in the US, who demonstrated how he interacted on problems in trigonometric functions with his students, giving them the grounding for a study of calculus.

The idea of a teacher being put out of work by a computer may be passé, but teachers who fail to embrace the opportunities offered by digital technology are likely be put out of work by teachers who do, Nussbaum-Beach says.

New Zealand Guest Hitches a Ride

Just returned from New Zealand and have many stories to tell via my blog-- however, first things first.

I wanted to report on the New Zealand guest that has accompanied me since Nelson. Please meet Tiny Ted, a geocache bear who was first introduced to me by the children of Appleby School.

Tiny Ted took one long look at New Zealand from my Auckland window. Then climbed in bed to get some sleep before the long plane flight.

He said he knew he would miss the children at Appleby, but was excited about the adventures he will have in America. I plan on introducing him to my preservice teachers in Williamsburg, Va. on Wednesday, which of course is Thursday in New Zealand. I am helping Tiny Ted understand the difference in time zones. He has been very sleepy.

Here are some of his welcome pics once he arrived in America.

Week One in New Zealand

Amber and I arrived in  Auckland weary but excited about our new journey. We were met at the airport by a wonderful woman cab driver who had a sign with our name. She drove us straight away to our hotel, the Heritage. Our balcony view (click for photo set) was simply gorgeous. I spent time working on the last touches to my keynote presentation while Amber scoured the city. She came back with exciting stories of the bay. That night we ate at Kermadec, a seafood fusion restaurant. I had seafood that was topped with a rather fierce looking prawn. I wanted to play war with him at the table as his pinchers were too intense to ignore, but Amber wouldn't have it.

Auckland

The next morning we decided to venture out and see the city and do a little shopping. I was so surprised that the stores and people were so similar to the States. They all have different names and there aren't any Wal-Marts- (yeah) but the similarities are striking. It really is a flat world. We saw a MacDonalds and a Starbucks but avoided them to get more authentic experience. The first difference we noticed was the bathroom (they call them toilets) in that they were all very clean and quite beautiful. The toilets have two flushes, one is a half flush and the other is a whole flush. Very sensible. The sinks are often raised bowls, rather than a in the counter design. The showers and tubs are huge and have two sets of controls for turning water on and off, one for the bath and one for the shower. The water is pure and not filtered. And the air is noticeably clean.

While in Auckland the flat iron we brought short circuited from the different power source. This was a big deal as both Amber and I need the flat iron to not have a bad hair day. We began to think about how to buy a new one immediately.

New Zealand Airports

We spent the 10th and the morning of the 11th in Auckland and then headed off to catch a plane to Invercargill. The airports in New Zealand are very customer friendly, one of the perks that comes from never having had terrorism in your country. You do not have to arrive until just before your plane takes off and if you run late, no worries, they will hold the plane for you. The security is a breeze. You do not have to take your shoes off or take your laptop out. The domestic travel airports are generally not very busy or big and everyone waits to go to the gate in the general area with food and such. When it is time to go to the gate, family members can go with you and see you off right at the gate. We were a little worried about the weight of our bags, but they passed with flying colours (note the NZ spelling) and we were not asked to pay for the few extra pounds. We met the nicest lady in the airport who told us about Invercargill, she didn’t live far from there herself.

As I write this we are sitting in the Nelson airport and the back door is open for a spectacular view of the mountains. Tiny birds dodge in and out into the eating area and cars pass back and forth 100 yards from the door as people saunter in and out. The breeze and relaxed atmosphere is delightful.

Invercargill

As we descended to land at the Invercargill airport we could see thousands of white dots. As we got closer to the ground we saw that these were sheep.

New Zealand has more sheep than it has people. We were met at the Invercargill airport by

Ernie, the head of TUANZ who is hosting the educational conference of which I am keynoting. He had a sign with our names (something which made me feel very important-ha!)and swept up our bags with strength and grace and then helped us find our way out to the company van. We road with him to Invercargill the site of our first stop on the Tuanz 2007 Educational Conference. We stayed at the Ascot Park Hotel. I quickly met the Tuanz team, many of whom I had been communicating with prior to coming. Heidi, Dee and Lucy the project organizers, Sarah the media and educational writer, and Brad and Quinton the incredible AV team. In addition, I met Suzie, a co-presenter in the workshop. They were very friendly and made Amber and I feel totally at ease.

The first surprise in Invercargill was the size of the city. The population is right at 60K and is mostly a farming community. It is on the South Island and reminded us both of Valdosta, GA., a city were Amber was raised until we moved to Virginia. The hotel room was less posh than in Auckland, but comfortable all the same, except for the fact there was not air conditioning. However, the weather was cool enough that it was fine. (click here for photo set)

We had dinner the first night and I sat with Ernie, Sarah, and Suzie. The conversation was intellectual and stimulating. I was delighted. I knew I was going to learn a great deal from New Zealanders and that was exactly what I had hoped.

The conference in Invercargill  was wonderful. I was surprised a bit at the limited number of teachers blogging or using other social networking tools and adjusted my presentation for the next conference to encompass some of the basics. However, the presentations at the workshops were full of cutting edge information. We had some difficulty with the Internet during my workshop and we turned it into a Q&A, but it was still lively and I learned as much as I hope those in attendance gained. I was so excited that I got to meet Jane Nicholls. Jane was one of the Kiwis who attended the Elluminate session Miguel and I held prior to my arrival in New Zealand. I will be blogging more about the individual sessions over on theTuanz blog.

I didn’t get to explore the city however Amber did. She said it was a little town with big charm. After the conference I did get to go to dinner at the most incredible restaurant. It amazed me that such a small town would have such an incredible restaurant. I am told that there are many in Invercargill that are of the same quality. The food was great and the company was better. We had a great time.

New Zealand Wine

Little known to me, New Zealand is known for its wine. They have become a serious international contender in wine markets. The interesting thing is that even though New Zealand only has only four million people, most have an amazingly sophisticated wine pallet. This is because most Kiwis have access to great wine. It is rare to find cheap, bad wine like we have in the states because of the pride New Zealanders have in their wine vineyards. Kiwis know the small and taste of a good to great wine and will not accept less.

I have been here for a week and have discussed wine almost every day. It has been an education. I plan on purchasing some bottles to bring back as gifts when I return to Auckland.

ChristChurch

We left Invercargill on Tues. 13th and were able to fly with the TUANZ team. The airport was great fun as Heidi had a pass to the VIP lounge. It was filled with coffee and other goodies that were complementary to guests. We sat and laughed and joked in comfort then they gave a special call for us to board when it was assured there would be no standing in line. I was quite impressed. Once in
ChristChurch we settled in to the Crown Plaza hotel. It was a contemporary room with a lovely view of the city. Amber was anxious to explore so we took off walking right away. First stop was a department store to buy a flat iron. We found one for $65 New Zealand dollars. The department store was Farmers and was very similar to Macy's. It even had some of the very same displays as the States with slightly different verbiage.

The city was like little England. We visited the trendy shops, got to know what New Zealand jade looked like and for what the various Maori symbols stood. We toured the Christchurch Cathedral and were told we couldn’t take pictures without paying and then we were forced to leave via the gift shop. It is a real church and it reminded me of when Christ over turned the oak tables in his day. We went to the art center and museum. I got to see a wonderful display of Maori fiber art.

That night I went out with the Tuanz team and it was great fun. It was great getting to know them all better and the food was outstanding.

The conference rocked. The Internet worked for both my Keynote and workshop. I had a chance to make some new friends and meet Derek Wenmoth (we had been talking online) that came over for the last 30 minutes (during the panel discussion. There were a few more bloggers than in the first show. It seemed as if people were already using Web 2.0 tools and that helped in that we could focus more on what we could do with the tools. The highlight of my day was helping L. Marsh to create her own blog, wiki, and Tapped In account to use with her students.

Derek Wenmoth of CORE and Douglas Harre of the Ministry of Education

After the conference, Amber and I went out with her friends from the craft board. Amber has three Kiwi friends who were very excited to find out she was coming to their country. She made plans to meet them for dinner and they let me go! We went to an Indian restaurant and it was so so. He also tried to rip us off saying that we didn't pay. But we did. I was standing right there. The girls were so lively and intelligent. The conversation kept me stimulated throughout dinner. I was excited for Amber that she got to meet her online friends.

The next morning, Amber and I went to a market in ChristChurch that was great fun. We bought a few gifts and then Amber took me to an art shop, an art cafe, and the entry way to the botanic gardens where she had gone the day before. It was so gorgeous. The trees were huge and everything was in bloom. I got to see some kids playing kickball and a German couple asked that we take their picture.

The reciprocated by taking ours in front of the fountain. After exploring one of the art center cafes, amber and I stopped to have a cup of flat white coffee in the outdoor cafe. Several small little birds came up and ate bread pieces out of my hand. I felt like Snow White in a Disney adventure having tiny little birds unafraid to eat from my hand.

New Zealand Food

The one thing I have noticed is that New Zealand restaurants understand food presentation. No matter where we have gone, whether it is a sandwich shop or a cafe or a higher scale establishment- all of the food presentation has been beautiful. I mean Food Network eat your heart out. I live in a resort area in Virginia. You would think we would understand presentation of food. But we pale in comparison to New Zealand. I have yet to have a bad meal or one that was not presented like a five star restaurant back home.

The food is expensive in comparison though. Dee, one of my hosts, said that when you factor in the exchange rate from US to NZ dollars that it is actually comparable. And there is one big plus- no tipping. That's right! Tipping is discouraged. I was told not to tip unless someone had lifted several of my bags. I was told *never* to tip a cab. That in general Kiwis do not tip and they pay a decent wage so that people do not need tips. If I tip, I was told to keep it to 10%.

The biggest thrill so far with New Zealand food-wise has been the coffee. They have something called flat white. I love it. It is perfect. Much better than Starbucks. And they make decorations in the top when they swirl the milk.

Nelson

We caught a plane to Nelson on the morning of 15th. Nelson is a city of about 45K but is absolutely breath taking.

Much of Peter Jackson's movie The Lord of the Rings was filmed here. As the plane landed we could see mountains and beaches. It was just like the advertisements we had seen for New Zealand before we arrived. Amber and I were very excited as we made our way via Taxi to the hotel. We stayed at the Rutherford Hotel, a very nice hotel in a room that had a view! About an hour after we arrived we were taken to dinner by TUANZ to meet all of the sponsors and funders of the Educational road show. I sat between Simon and Heidi and across from Ernie and Amber. Simon explained a great deal about New Zealand's culture and people to me. I learned a great deal. The restaurant was called Bar Delicious and it certainly held true to its name.

During this conference I was to not only do my Keynote and Workshop, but I was asked to give two additional workshops and the panel discussion. It was a full day. The highlight of my time in Nelson was being able to meet Allanah King.

Paul Harrington had introduced us and we have been collaborating online prior to my coming to New Zealand. She has been working with my preservice students in the e-mentorship and was a guest speaker with the Alabama teachers who are involved with the 21st Century project. I also got to meet Rachel at the conference who attended the Elluminate session Miguel and I had prior to my coming to New   Zealand. It was great fun. The Nelson teachers were a delightful audience that laughed and asked tough questions. Many brought their laptops to my interactive sessions and created blogs, wikis, and social networking accounts as we went along. The conference ended with Graham saying this was the best professional development he had ever attended. He was presented with a bottle of New Zealand wine as a gift for his comments! As a huge surprise, when the final farewells were given and folks were leaving the conference Graham made his way forward and gave the bottle of wine to Amber and me as a gift of appreciation. Kiwis are a kind and giving people.

That evening we went to dinner with Allanah and her precious mother Margaret. Margaret's great, great grandmother was one of the original Nelsonians that arrived from England. She is a perky woman with a terrific sense of humor.

Most Beautiful Place I Have Ever Seen

If you could imagine the most perfect place on earth it would look very much like Nelson. There are hills and mountains everywhere that end gently at the most breath taking beaches.

On Saturday, March 17, Allanah took Amber and me to the market. But the market here is different than flea markets in the States; it is more like a mix of real art and quality wares. Each of the vendors was personable and many were friends of Allanah. Every person I have spoken to in New Zealand
has treated me as though I mattered. You do not see that in the States, we are often in too big of a hurry and brush people off quickly.

After the market Amber and I took a very expensive taxi ride to Able Tasman to meet some of the TUANZ crew (Heidi, Quinton, and Brad) to go sea kayaking.

Our guide's name was Angus and he did a very good job of explaining the basics. Amber and I were in a double kayak. It was such a thrill to paddle along the coast of such gorgeous scenery. We worked our way through huge rocks sticking out of the Tasman Sea. I saw birds and other creatures I had never seen before. The weather was perfect, breeze and sun. While traveling in our Kayak we passed Kaiteriteri beach. We then came to a beach where we stopped and came ashore and ate banana cake the caretaker of the Kayak shop had made for us and drank apple juice. It was the first time Amber had ever been on a beach with no other footprints. Amber and I decided to stay and explore the beach a bit more while the others went around the next bend to see what was there. We met two other gentlemen along the way who smiled and then disappeared. I got to see a starfish clinging to the rocks and other curious little birds that chirped and clicked loudly as a greeting.

On our way back the wind picked up and we paddled through some real waves. It was quite exciting. When we arrived back at camp there were others who also had gone on Kayaking adventures, all young and locals. It reminded me very much of my life as a twenty something traveling around the US, especially the time I spent on The Farm in Summertown, Tenn. The peace and calm is unlike anything I have experienced in a very long time. We road the bus back to the hotel and went in to take a long, hot bath.

The next morning, Allanah picked us up and took us to the World of Wearable Art Museum. Several years ago the wearable art competition began as a school fund raiser. It has grown to an international competition and has been moved to Wellington, New Zealand's capital. The costumes are very much like what you see in Cirque de Soleil and the detail is mind boggling. I so wish we could actually wear clothes like that. I love the originality and creativity. In fact, Nelson is a city of artists, organic food, and people who understand how to work hard and then enjoy life.

After the museum we picked up Margaret and went for a drive to see the gorgeous country side. We visited the most amazing beach and picnic area and ended up at Allanah's school. I fell in love. One hundred children attend Appleby School. I was immediately taken back to the small innovative school I created in Georgia. The classrooms were decorated with student art and creative displays to reinforce the concepts they are learning through project-based instruction. All of New Zealand's schools are encouraged to use personalized learning strategies and inquiry-based approaches to learning. There was even a library.

The place I was most blown away by was the playground it was simply amazing. There were a series of pipes children could manipulate with water to not only learn some amazing science concept by doing, but also produce musical tones. The students can play in the dirt with trucks and buckets, they can climb trees, and have outside places to eat and study as a class. Allanah said they have the occasional broken arm from falling from the tree, but it is so worth it in the long run to allow the children the freedom of exploring nature and how their body moves in the sunshine.

They have a pool and an Amphitheatre in addition to the custom designed playgrounds (created by a parent from Germany with expertise in that area). I so wanted to teach in a school like that--I was so appreciative to have been able to visit.

 We ended the visit with a lovely lunch at an art center and watched fan tail birds spread their tails saying hello as we ate our meal.

We are now in Wellington. I have lots of pictures and want to link them all but I have just been told I need to be ready in an hour for the next adventure. So I will do that later today. I just got Internet in my room a few minutes ago. I was able to type this last night in Word and I am posting this morning. Please check back tonight and I will have all the links

and pictures uploaded and linked as well.

Connections- Networking in New Zealand

Pre-Conference Chat
Last night a group of educators in New Zealand, TUANZ conference organizers, and Miguel Guhlin and I gathered in Elluminate to talk about ICT implementation in New Zealand schools. You can listen/watch the Webcast here. Participants from NZ included Janice ( a principal), Craig Hayman, Wayne and Tom from NSC (Camp Te Anau), Allanah, Rachel, Sarah Putt (TUANZ 2007 organizer), and Jane Nicholls (an e-Fellow). (read more on the conference blog)

Kiwi Connections
I have had the pleasure of connecting with several New Zealanders prior to my coming to visit. It has been quite exciting! Allanah King, Leigh Blackall, Artichoke, Barb Wallis, Bruce Ritchie, Rachel Jeffares, Derek Wenmoth and others. All have helped to shape my understanding of this intriguing country. I am appreciative of the time and energy they have taken to entertain my questions. I also want to thank Graham Wegner who helped me connect with several of his friends in New Zealand and Paul Harrington for introducing me to the amazing Allanah King!

New Zealand Bloggers
I also have been reading quite a few bloggers from New Zealand!  Most recently, Rachel shared with me a wiki of  ICT using educators in New Zealand. I was blown away at the creativity and depth of the messages contained in these blogs. The US has a lot we can learn from the creative applications of Web 2.0 I am seeing in New Zealand.

Learning the Lingo
The most interesting part of all of this has been sorting out the terms used in New Zealand. For example, one of the first pieces of advice I was given was to be sure and bring my toggs. Toggs? Here we have frogtoggs. But I knew that couldn't be right. So I started to search the Web. I found http://www.togs.org/ a place for the bewildered online and while I am most of the time quite bewildered I knew that wasn't right. I found this and hoped I wasnt expected to bring my peasant-wear! Finally, I turned to wikipedia (where any 21st Century learner would look) and found my answer! Togs are aqua jammies or swimming costume (sometimes shortened to cozzie) or in America-- a bathing suit! Ha!

Yesterday I was told I could buy a phone card at the dairy. In the US we buy milk and cheese at the dairy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dairy. Then I was told the dairy is the grocery. Last night I heard terms like woosh and loop. And everyone is talking about taking me for tea! Allanah explained tea to me this morning, I had visions of tea parties with real china and dainty cookies. It should be great fun sorting out the language differences. I was thinking of what a wonderful online project that could be between two geographically diverse schools. They could create a wiki to collaborate and then discover and create word lists of culturally diverse expressions and their meanings that they discover from Skype conversations and interviews.

If you haven't had time to check out the TUANZ wiki-- please do. And if you are a presenter please add your resources as this will serve as the virtual handout for the conference.  If you are a participant please add you blog.

Unleashing Student Passion

I had a neat collaborative experience a few days ago with Mark Wagner over at Educational Technology and Life. He was on Skype, and I needed a fresh pair of eyes to look at the abstract I was writing for my keynote in New Zealand-. We collaboratively edited the piece down to 150 words. The whole time I am thinking-- I really can collaborate with the best minds on Skype from anywhere in the world. Man -- what a time is this to be alive. The trick is having an array of disruptive P2P tools available and then being skilled and brave enough to network with others. Of course this is all contingent on going one step further making sure those who aren't using these powerful tools - start.

So anyway, back to Mark- after we finished working on my abstract and pairing it down, he was able to take some key ideas and phrases and work them into a piece he was writing. How efficient is that?
The key to true innovation is engaging collaboration. And the key to effective virtual collaboration is connectivity and skill at networking.

Here is my New Zealand keynote abstract- if you have any resources or ideas that relate please share them in the comments or if you would just like to talk a little about unleashing student passion then let's start the conversation here.

Keynote Address: Schooling for the 21st Century: Unleashing Student Passion
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Adjunct Instructor of Educational Technology, College of William and Mary & Educational Consultant, Virginia Beach, Virginia, USA

A passionate student is a learning student. As the people of the world are becoming increasingly connected, the nature, use, ownership, and purpose of knowledge are changing in profound ways. Our goal as educators is to leverage these connections and changes as powerful means to improve teaching and learning in our schools. Using digital media and web-based tools, students are building their own learning experiences, constructing meaning, and collaborating in teams to solve authentic content-based problems. Many teachers who use these empowering technologies are now discovering we can have rigor without sacrificing excitement. The secret: Focus on student passion and interest, not the machines and software.

Come listen as Sheryl stirs a sense of urgency for shifting classroom practice toward more engaging approaches that unleash the passion that lies within each learner. Sheryl invites you to discuss this and (other 21^st Century teaching and learning topics) on her blog: http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/blog/

TUANZ Education Conference 2007

I am going to New Zealand! Thanks to the kind recommendation of Wes Fryer I am going to be presenting a series of keynotes and workshops in New Zealand on Web 2.0 and 21st Century teaching and learning concepts.

From the conference website:

TUANZ Education Conference 2007

Improving teaching, learning and thinking skills with ICT

The TUANZ Education Conference is not simply about technology. This nationwide conference focused on ways in which ICT can be integrated into the curricula and brought into the classroom. Our aim is to improve teaching, learning and thinking skills in every school throughout New Zealand. And with your help this goal is achievable. In 2007 we will hold ten conferences throughout New Zealand.

I am doing six of the 10 and Miguel Guhlin will do the other four. Too bad we will not be there at the same time!

Here is where I will be:

Monday 12 March – Invercargill
Wednesday 14 March – Christchurch
Friday 16 March – Nelson

Tuesday 20 March – Wellington
Wednesday 21 March – Palmerston North
Thursday 22 March – New Plymouth

New Zealand Conversation

If you are a New Zealand teacher I'd love to talk to you via Skype. I am snbeach. If you know a New Zealand teacher I'd love for you to put us in contact with each other. And if you have been to New Zealand and have an travel tips for me-- please leave a comment below! I am a hiker/biker and found these pics -- wow am I ever excited.

http://www.backpack-newzealand.com/gallery/albums.php

http://www.backpack-newzealand.com/ni-gallery/albums.php?PHPSESSID=c5e2cf808a3e84cdac087a5e08298f8c