Edchatnz F2F with Kidsedchatnz & Passion.

I became a teacher after another life, being a teacher makes me happy, even on the worst days of being a teacher I'd still rather do this than many other things in the employment sector. Why? Because I am surrounded by the most amazing people - teachers, children, families, trainers and so many of them are leaders in their own right. Walking into the Edchatnz Conference you could feel the enthusiasm & passion!

Danielle embodies that passion and by creating #Edchatnz she planted the seed for #kidsedchatnz to grow as she got teachers involved in her NZ based twitter chat. Pascal and now our team of 7 now looks after it and it is a privilege to work with them.

Several weeks ago Danielle told me "we [Kidsedchatnz] needed to be there". We presented a workshop straight after the Keynote but here's what I got out of yesterday, from an @kidsedchatnz perspective:

• Danielle's shoutout about Kidsedchatnz during her Keynote was a special moment for me! 
• So many teachers, more than I realised, know about Kidsedchatnz, yesterday I got face to face with some of them during a live Kidsedchatnz chat session. To the teachers at Ngatea Primary School, awesome to meet you all and talk about why Kidsedchatnz is so amzaing.
• Talking with a student teacher who came up "Buddy Tweeting", as a way to help more junior school children take part!
• The Core Education team, especially Becky Hare and Catriona Pene, we need to link Kidsedchatnz up to the Connected Educator month and potentially bring the Kids Chat to uLearn! (My brain is spinning)
• The Kidsedchatnz team is so amazing, Simone & I presented together after having never met, Stephen moderated for our kids from Palmerston North. My class took part beautifully with a reliever in the room, & even convinced him to send the odd tweet! 

Kidsedchatnz is in great hands, take a look at the topic for this week's chat and you'll see why. If you haven't already, get on the bandwagon to help you're kids to some awesome learning experiences. For those of you who are still novices with Kidsedchatnz, or wanting to learn more come and see us at the Taster Session we are hosting at ULearn14 where Juliet will be leading the way (with a supporting cast of course).

Lowlight* of the Day:

Maggie Barry, if teaching has an image problem, you chose the wrong audience to disclose that moronic statement! Maybe you're right that kids don't want to be teachers anymore partly because we're considered as low paid & undervalued by governments forever, everywhere. You're also right because some kids are subjected to silo learning, artificial & meaningless experiences. An HPPS boy summed it up when he said he wanted to go to sleep sometimes at his old school. Teachers at #Edchatnz talk & teacher 21st century learning for 21st century children. In a room full of passionate teachers who are giving up time regularly to engage in PD you picked the wrong audience. Shame on you!

Another day of #Edchatnz awaits, I wonder what I'll learn, who I'll meet, what ideas will grow and what stories I'll tell...

*This comment is in no way a disclosure of my political views, I keep them off this blog & my twitter account.