KPMG Day #2 What difference does a day make?

Sunday night/Monday morning: the South Island MIT contingent meet up in our motel, walk to breakfast, share notes, wonder if we are going to be ready or sufficiently progressed for Dorothy and Anne.

8.30-midday - we are all together and sharing what is working, what we are struggling with.  We play the Inquiry game called Catalyst and keep on digging into our project and challenging our own assumptions and each other's.

By the time we stop for a delicious lunch soon after midday, I know that we can all do this.  The digging deep approach reveals those things we had not yet thought of, or fully exposed, or developed an action plan for.  But it doesn't reveal weakness.  It reveals strength and courage, because we don't shy from these revelations, we take them seriously and use them to improve our thinking and our tool project.  We get so many ideas from each other, noting down thoughts and reconceptualising our next steps and challenges.  We relish this and I see people strengthened by the process, including feeling it myself.

After lunch we are all about the Edtech conference at Sydney.  One thing I was curious about was the 'why' for this conference.  Dorothy talked about Manaiakalani's goal of growing us (Manaiakalani Innovative Teachers) as leaders, and building our confidence to address large groups.  We will address a large group of principals at the end of the year when we present on our tool to raise achievement.  In the interim, we have the opportunity and encouragement to present online toolkits, both in Term Two before Sydney and in Term Three on our progress on our tool development. 

For me, the prospect of presenting at Edtech in Sydney is a little daunting, but the prospect of using my passport for the first time this century, and meeting my daughter afterwards in Melbourne for her first ever use of her brand new passport, outweighs any nerves.  We all know that teaching involves huge hours, and that family life can suffer, and the opportunity to link my new adventure with MIT to a new adventure for my daughter who is often sick of me being at work for too long (gosh teachers at your school have to go to a LOT of meetings, Mum!) is awesome.