My first TeachMeet

Well, another day, another first. #ConnectedLife

I experienced my first TeachMeet via an event linking educators in TeachMeetNZ and TMSydney.

The educators were a mix of experienced and less-experienced practitioners, and I was impressed by how much they all brought to the event. There were a number of topics covered which spanned almost the whole sector (tertiary wasn't explicitly addressed, though many of the ideas could translate, I'm sure). I enjoyed the event and live-tweeted as we went - another first for me. Copying the hashtag set so it was already on my clipboard and just pasting into and editing each tweet as needed saved me a lot of time and I was better able to keep up with the presentations. Note to self: have a notepad window open with key hashtag sets available if there are a number of tags to copy into tweets on the fly. Or look for a plugin/app that will help with that.

Some minor technical issues cropped up, but didn't stop the process cold. The format was disciplined and driven forward and kept on point by excellent facilitators.

Disclaimer: This post is simply to reflect on my experience of the event, not the content and how I might use/adapt it in my own practice.

Oh, now it's on!

Blogging legend

1. Check out the #edblognz blogroll as often as possible and comment on as many posts as you can to help encourage a critical and supportive NZ edu-blogging community.
2. Write a blog post about why you blog professionally and some of the things you blog about. Share it using the #EdBlogNZ hashtag so the newbies can get further ideas to blog about.
3. Write a blog post about your favourite movie/song/piece of art including how it relates to your life as an educator.

2. I blog professionally, when I remember and when I can, to help me reflect on my practice. It also helps sometimes to write down how I feel about the challenges and triumphs of my day. I hope to be able to look back on these posts and see how far I've come as a professional and as a person. 

3. My favourite movie/song/piece of art? I have too many to list, so perhaps that's my post... 

I have an eclectic taste in all things and that's part of my teaching philosophy too. It takes many approaches to suit the many learners I have in my care. 

Music? I listen to all sorts - classical, R&B, Alt. Rock, D&B, Trance/Rave/Ambient, Dubstep, Dub, Country, Pop... it all depends on my mood. Just as my approach in the classroom depends on my mood, the learners, their moods, the topic, the lesson, the learning objectives. It's a moveable feast and I have to be ready to move with it. Be adaptable and flexible. It's not my way or the highway. It's whatever way we need to take to get to the destination (and the destination can change too!)

Movies? I have MANY favourites - Bladerunner, Dune, Gallipoli, The Dam Busters, Notting Hill (there, I wrote it), LOTR/Hobbit, Aliens, Good Will Hunting, The Good Shepherd, About Time, Twilight - Breaking Dawn (yes, I wrote that one down, too!) ... the list continues. Again, it depends on my mood and how long it's been since I last saw it. Unlike my music, I can't really revisit a movie too soon after first seeing it (usually). So it is with my teaching. Or so it is becoming. I have less tolerance for the 'tried and true' and often go off-script now. You guessed it - it all depends on the learners and the moment.

Art? The same applies here - Impressionist, cubist, gothic, abstract, realist, graffiti, modernist. Turner, Van Gogh, Dali, da Vinci, Picasso, Renoir, Warhol, Chagall, Banksy. Any and all, depending on my mood and the moment.