Today I had the opportunity to present and to see others present at the ICTEV 2007 conference.  I also was lucky enough to recieve the ICTEV teacher of the Year award.  It was very daunting getting up in front of people I have looked up to and been inspired by and accept my award. 

One of the most wonderful things about the conference was to see the large amount of pre service teachers there on a Saturday.  I mentioned in my speech that I had went when I was a pre service teacher and it is always conforting to know there are others out there eager to learn and innovate.

If you attended the conference I would love to hear about your highlights of the day.

I found this video on social networks and really liked it. I think it shows that they are not the evil empire A Current Affair Makes them out to be.

Download:Social Networks - Powered by TeacherTube.com

Change creates stress and stress is an everyday fact of life.  As
agents of change, leaders must know themselves well and understand
their stress tolerance in addition to having developed a strong
repertoire of stress management skills.  This is necessary to
maintain a sense of mastery and control over themselves and
life/work situations to avoid feeling victimized, overwhelmed, or
controlled by pressures and demands. http://crs.uvm.edu/gopher/nerl/personal/stress/a.html

I have recently realised that as a change agent I am never ever going to be the popular staffmember I once was.  I cannot make everybody happy all of the time and this is the hardest part of my job.  I think an important point is that leaders are only human and they make mistakes in life. 

I think my big question right now for others and myself is why as leaders we only get feedback when things are wrong or tough yet as leaders we are expected to always give positive feedback?

Walking around classrooms I often wonder how much time is actually spent teaching in a session.  Over the next few weeks I will be gathering some stats around this and I would love others to comment through any of their observations.

As you would all know this year I made the brave change from a small primary school to a large K to 12 multi campus college.  It is a choice I rejoice in every single day.  Being in a large school really has shown me the importance of engagement and connection for students and teachers. 

If we as teachers feel engaged and connected to our school we begin to take risks and innovate in our practice.  This is the same for our students!

I feel more connected and engaged at the moment than ever before and it is a wonderful feeling and I thought I would share it with the blogosphere.  :)  I have found a school which is synchronised with my developmental needs and aspirations.  Now the challenge for us all is to create schools and environments which are in sync with our students  developmental needs and aspirations.

I have found some readings regarding school connection which you maybe interested in…  Please add your thoughts and readings to this discussion.

http://www.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/training/truancy/day2.pdf

http://www.childtrends.org/Files/McNeely-paper.pdf

http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/famncomm/pa400.htm

I just found this on teachertube and it got me very sentimental and inspired and thought I would share it with you all.
http://www.teachertube.com/flvideo/956.flv

Apologies for the lack of posts but I will get on track soon I promise.  I need to post at the same time each week and get into it.  I have been really busy at Caroline Springs yet I am enjoying it more than anything.