Ehara taku toa, he takitahi, he toa takitini

My success should not be bestowed onto me alone, as it was not individual success but success of a collective. Standing on the shoulders of giants.

Well, better late than never — but it is with much pleasure and a mighty dollop of relief that I share with you the notes and video of the keynote I delivered at the ULearn16 conference last month.

ULearn is an educational event I know well – and it felt beautifully like being on home turf – but also the closing session and biggest crowd that I have had the pleasure to address in a long time. I so wanted to set the right tone, share ideas that would sit well on the journey home and percolate as everyone kicked into term 4.

“A key note can also be thought of as from the practice of a cappella – playing a note before singing. The note played determines the key, the tone of our ideas…”

And in the spirit of honesty, I won’t pretend that it came easily even though it flowed well on the day. Preparation took up most of the shelves in my mental cupboard for many months in the run up and I worked through the various stages of fear, denial, acceptance etc before arriving at what was, finally, a joyful moment.

So much energy, perspiration and persistence poured into 50 minutes.

Enjoy. And keep in touch — happy to share a thought online — or find out how I can work with your team; join the groups who have already contacted to chat about 2017.

What I shared …

Beyond the echo chamber: The extraordinary possibilities of a networked profession

The gist: .’…explore the rapid rise in innovative professional learning. From ‘done to’ staff meetings to collaborative, agile investigations into what’s happening for our learners, the way educators improve and grow has evolved rapidly in recent years. …explore new insights into professional learning, best ways to embrace change, and invite you to think about how we can transform what we do for our learner.’