Well I have just returned from the learning@school conference. I gained a lot from the conference, but where to now? I mean there are a whole of host of ideas swimming around in my head. The key is the small steps inegration of these new ideas and concepts into my teaching practice. I was particularly impressed with the Andy Hargreaves and his idea that our goals should be focused on what we as school need and not shaped by government and a ministry that is removed from us. This rang true for me as we embark on our first year as an ICT cluster, our worry as a school was that we would be lost in the needs of the cluster and as such fail to meet out responsibility to our own school and the stakeholders within it.

His tale of Nokia as a driving force in shaping the development of their country was impressive. I loved the idea of shouting out about our bad news, about calling for help early on and not hiding the truth, "denial is not an Egyptian river". The bottom-up approach is one I can see working effectively, as long as the bottom feels valued and appreciated.

Throughout the conference I tallied up how many times an effective habit was mentioned! I was very impressed with the fact that 6 of the 7 habits were included in keynotes and spotlight sessions over the two days. It re-affirmed for me my belief that if I can apply these habits to my own life and provide the opportunity for my students to develop the habits then we trully will find a "win win" situation.
http://www2.bc.edu/~hargrean/
http://www.artichoke.typepad.com/