St Paul's The British School of Sao Paulo, Brazil

I was fortunate to be asked to return to St Paul's the British School of Sao Paulo for their 1st open EDUCATION CONFERENCE in late March. It was my privilege to participate with an outstanding group of presenters and a thoughtful and engaged group of participants.

The group spent 2 1/2 days working with Mark Church [ Making Thinking Visible ], Jenny Mosley [Quality Circle Time], Dylan Wiliam [Formative Assessment],  Carol Ann Tomlinson 
[Differentiated instruction] and myself, as well as a talented group of Brazilian presenters.

One special aspect of the conference was the opportunity for each presenter to spend a minimum of a 1/2 a day with each presenter. The conference was consequently a culmination of the learning taken from each instructor. Though our topics differed as a group, the presenters offered reinforcing messages.

The conference proved to be an inspiring and sustained learning experience for those who participated. The staff who planned the event from St Paul's did an outstanding job.

Further information about the event can be found at the following link.
http://www.stpauls.br/template_related.aspx?pag_id_page=83

AASSA QUITO Equador

At great group of educators from throughout South America gathered in Quito for the AASSA Conference in early March. I had the pleasure of meeting and working with those pictured for two days.

During this time we managed to create our own professional learning community. We identified compelling issues, debated the potential for creating learning communities in our schools and discussed the possibilities and challenges we each face. By the conclusion we had formed a strong bond which I believe proved inspiring and rejuvenating for those involved.

Quotes from the participants reflections :-

"Far exceeded my expectations. An outstanding example of facilitation."

"Most of what we did had specific and real application in my work as a school leader."

"I really appreciated you asking us what we wanted to get out of the conference and how your tailored what we did to meet our needs."

"I am walking away humbled by the amazing capable and caring people who choose to dedicate themselves to education."

It was my pleasure to work with this group who all took risks to build a community during the two days. I feel certain they will return to their schools and put to good use the learning we explored.

Kuwait

Just finished working for 3 days in Kuwait at the Kuwait International Educators Conference. This conference brings together educators from over 30 schools within Kuwait and exposes them to professional development options that they otherwise would have to travel far to see. All the participants were engaged and interested in the content and excited by the new learning they heard.

Lynda Abdul Raheem is doing a wonderful service to the whole Kuwaiti Education Community organizing this bi annual event. She has created an amazing bi lingual opportunity for educators.

In 2009 I had the pleasure of meeting Jeanette Al-Sabah in Germany. Jeanette made it possible for me to be included in this event. The conference was a positive experience and I hope it is the start of future work with Jeanette and with Kuwaiti educators.

Second grade students at the Benjamin Franklin School, Barcelona

Keelin Swalve shared a great story of second grade students from BFIS  in Barcelona Spain participating in a PASEO  activity. Goes to show that it is not just adults who benefit from structured opportunities to collaborate!  Thanks for sharing Keelin.

International School of Tanganyika December 2011

2011 was bookended by 2 trips to work at IST in Dar es Salaam Tanzania. In February to work with elementary school teachers and in December to work with a group primarily from the secondary school.
It is always wonderful to work at the same place more than once and i feel very fortunate to return to IST.
After 2 busy days we managed to explore many materials and practice a number of new skills. Reflections
attested to the fact that this proved to be a valuable experience for many participants who left keen to try their skills in the teams they work with.

I hope to return to IST  in 2012 to see how everyone is getting on and to expand the group of teachers who are developing their skills with teacher collaboration.

ECIS Lisbon Portugal November 2011

I was fortunate to have the help and support of Lola Lauscher and Keelin Swalve at the ECIS pre conference in Lisbon this fall. This was particularly helpful because we had close to 40 participants and every hand was needed to personalize the experience. We did our best to break the large group into smaller groups so folks could learn from our facilitation and from each other. Lola and Keelin certainly had the opportunity to practice their skills.

  It turned into a busy but productive 2 days and we felt good about both the focus and learning taking place.  I was also able to present 2 shorter introductory sessions during the main conference agenda. Both were well attended and I hope useful to participants who become engaged and intrigued.  ECIS always has wonderful keynote speakers and because it is a large conference it is a stimulating event.

Panama City

In October I had the opportunity to present at the Tri Associates Conference in Panama City. This conference is for educators at International schools, primarily US  based schools in Central America.
I presented 3 different sessions at this event. They all consisted of introductions to the work of Critical Friends Groups. This was a new topic for most teachers in attendance, many expressed interest in learning more. I hope to present a longer 2 day pre conference at this event in Mexico City in 2013.