Catch the Wave

Here are some photos I took on the way from my motel to the main conference venue. (See post below.) It was the last morning (after the conference dinner the night before!!) and I was on my way to my first ‘unconference’. I had been asked to contribute to a session on ‘effective cluster/school management of the ICT contract’. Four of us attended (all facilitators) and although we swapped a few ideas the session didn’t turn out as I had imagined it would … there was no-one who was really there to learn. Perhaps everybody knows the answers already (or think they do!) Another possibility is that because there were so many unconference sessions there was no-one left to come to ours. The other possibility is that many delegates were sleeping in after socialising the night before. So I’ve yet to find out what a successful unconference session is like.

This is a very engaging way of teaching your students (or your own children) multiplication facts … and you might even enjoy playing it yourself!
To escape from the castle dungeon your avatar must explore rooms and corridors, find hidden doors and overcome monsters. And knowing multiplication facts is the key to success! To get playing, download the software programme from the Big Brainz website. The 2 – 12 times game is free, however you can purchase the full version. The website has a video tutorial telling you everything you need to know. Trust me, this game will be an instant hit with your kids!

Well here I am in sunny Whakatane, in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. I’ve actually been here for five weeks, but there have been lots of things to do and places to explore … so you’ll have to forgive me for not posting. I’ve bought a little place down by the river next to the botanic gardens.

While I wonder if this is a good time to buy real estate (I keep reading gloomy predictions about the market in the newspapers) I really love living in my own place again after six years renting in Wanganui.

Whakatane has sensational scenery. All I have to do is point my digital camera and click and I get the most amazing photos! I’ve used some of the photos I’ve taken to make the eBest ICT Cluster website banner

The local newspaper (Beacon) is printed 3 days a week and amazingly costs only 40c on Tuesday and Wednesday and 50c on Friday!! It has a great website and you can even download a .pdf of the classified advertisements.

Whakatane has an impressive ‘3 bin’ recycling system, taking away your rubbish, plastics, bottles, paper and green waste from the curb.

Another neat thing is that I’ve got a new Toshiba laptop (with 2 Gig of Ram!) and an aircard – so now I have Internet wherever I go – which is pretty much essential. I love it. And I finally got my home wireless Internet going … so now life is almost perfect. I just need to win lotto and find a perfect man. (Yeah, I know!)

The teachers in the eBest ICT Cluster are positive, confident, talented and enthusiastic – it will be fun learning together. If you’re coming up this way, let me know and I’ll show you around.

Coming up on Monday 24th we’re having our Wanganui ICT Cluster Celebration Day. Each school gets 40 minutes to share thier journey during the last 3 years using multimedia and oral presentations. Its created quite a bit of excitement in schools – although their secrecy means I don’t know what to expect. They want to surprise me on the day .. is this a good thing? I’m hoping so. Judging by the level of excitement, we’re in for an entertaining day. Anyway, I’ll let you know how it all goes later – after the event.

During the changeovers, I’ve planned a ‘lucky number – mystery prize’ game. When a number is drawn that person gets to choose a number and corresponding prize. The prizes are all worth winning except maybe the long round furry giraffe door draught stopper I bought at The Warehouse for $3.00! (But hey, if you have a draughty house …)

We’re also having a quiz of 20 questions (spread out over the day.) Teachers with the most correct answers will be in a draw for 3 great prizes. I’m putting all the questions below – so if you’re in our cluster and you read my blog, good on you! You’ve scored! Reading blogs pays off!

1. What do the letters www stand for?
2. What is the name of the most popular Internet search engine?
3. The name of the man who devised a thinking taxonomy in 1956 is …
4. Who is the Minister of Education?
5. On a cell phone, which number is with the letters a, b and c?
6. ICT stands for what?
7. Tahoma, Broadway and Algerian are all what?
8. An online journal is a called a …….
9. What is the address of the Wanganui ICT Cluster website?
10. A thinking map showing overlapping circles is called a what?
11. Is a jpeg a text file, spreadsheet file or graphic file?
12. What is the name of the Australian who invented the Thinkers Keys?
13. An audio file uploaded for sharing on the Internet is called a what?
14. What is the text acronym OTT short for?
15. What is data stored on inside a computer?
16. 16 behavioural & problem solving characteristics developed by Art Costa are
collectively called what?
17. What, where, why, who, when, which and how are collectively called The Seven …. What?
18. A brand of laptop starting with T is a ……
19. The smallest individual dot that can be displayed on a computer screen is called a …
20. What is the name of the port on a computer where you plug in a pen drive?

technorati tags:ICT, Cluster, celebration, New_Zealand, quiz, blog, Wanganui