Educating the Dragon

After a 5.30am start this morning travelling "around" to get to Taihape due to the possible snow and ice on the Taihape Road. (According to Google maps the Taihape Rd. does not even exist!!) my energy levels are flagging now.

Sometimes I wish I could get right back into the classroom. Today was one of those days.
I had heard much about about TAS , third hand as you do. And in answer to the unanswered questions regarding the complex it IS all under one roof. The grounds are ample but the complex designed around a canteen in the centre allows access to all classrooms and admin areas under one roof. There is plenty of eating and socialising space in the main lunch eating areas, which are also undercover.
I can see why visiting folk in November or February would say "why bother?" But this neither being February nor some cloudless vista I for one have fully appreciated the design. I’m back tomorrow to deliver further training and hopefully I’ll be able to catch up with an ex-colleague of mine F2F.

The day in Taupo was great. What a wonderful bunch of enthusiastic teachers. I wish they were at my school. Some of them had to put up with me all day and some of them are coming again tomorrow. IWB +Literacy was the session as well as IWB1. What a great couple of sessions. Beautiful lake too.

It has been a whole year since I began with Breathe Technology and I’ve not starved to death. In fact as we reviewed the year just gone and I think it has been a productive year. Some of our highlights have been the development of the regional training sessions (some areas are going better than others) and the promoting at conferences. I can’t believe the effort required to take a business from zero to being known throughout NZ as a quality provider of professional development.
A personal highlight of mine was the opportunity to deliver my first ‘In-House’ training ; a challenge and a joy at the same time.
My area this year has been extended to include Wellington and Taupo which I’m excited about… a few more nights away but greater opportunity to visit schools throughout New Zealand. Leave a comment if you think I might be in your area, I’d love to call in on my way through.
We have talked about the development and flexibility of the EHSAS contracts, that schools cluster together and identify their own PD focus. I’d love to hear from you if your school has been involved in this project.
How similar to ICTPD clusters are they?

Here’s the latest episode of On the Road. A few rambling thoughts as I drive back from the conference. Excuse the car noise… If anyone has ideas about filtering background noise on Audacity let me know.