Category: tmbett09

Yesterday I ran in my first ever running race. At Teachmeet on January I stood up in front of a room full of people and told them what I’d been doing in my classroom with technology.

If you’d told me a year ago that’s what I’d be doing in January 2009, I would have laughed. Lots.

But, as I entitled my Teachmeet presentation – What a difference a year makes!

Below is what I said at Teachmeet, along with links to the work we’ve done (omitted to show any of it on the night as I was so nervous!)

Lisa Stevens (lisibo) @ TeachMeet BETT from Learn4Life on Vimeo.

Our wiki is http://wcps.wikispaces.com and our school website http://www.whitehousecommon.org.uk

And, bless him, this is what Drew Buddie said about me!

Last one of two bits of feedback from TeachMeet at EatMeet from Learn4Life on Vimeo.

And here’s the last 50m of the race in Sutton Park yesterday. It was a handicap race, with each participant estimating how long it would take them to run 5km. We were then set off that amount of time before 1a so in theory we should all have arrived in a bunch together. As it was, I finished in 26 minutes 46 seconds which was 14 seconds off my estimate, and won a prize as I was 5th nearest! Ironically, if I hadn’t had to stop on the final corner because I was heaving s much, I wouldn’t have won anything because I’d have been too fast.

So – what will you be doing this time next year? You never know!

This time next week, TeachMeet09 will be drawing to a close and about 60 people will be descending on PizzaExpress to carry on the networking and discussions. And I can’t wait!

As Drew Buddie has put it so eloquently on his blog, I’ll leave it to him to explain –

The TeachMeet model is one which encourages anyone with something of interest regarding the use of technology in the classroom to talk about, to speak to a gathered audience of people who (in a nutshell)want to be inspired. It makes for an excellent antidote to the BETT Show which is effectively a showcase for hundreds of companies trying to sell teachers their products. This is because you know that the people talking are genuinely talking about THEIR classroom practice, as opposed to a salesman peddling their latest tool or software package.

Last year I went to BETT for the first time and must say that I got far more out of TeachMeet than I did from BETT. I love the fact that each presentation is short – 2 or 7 minutes – and that everything is based on classroom practice! And because presenters are chosen by random generator from the list of volunteers, you’re neer sure what’s coming next.

Last year, I watched in awe of everyone, rather like a rabbit in headlights. One year on, I’m helping to organise the event and have volunteered to speak – name is down for 7 minutes as I was told by several people that there was no way I would be able to limit myself to 2 minutes!! And that’s what I’m going to talk abut – how I got from one to the other!

So, if you’re coming to BETT next Friday, sign up on the wiki – it’s free!

And if you can’t be in London, why not join in virtually? As Drew also points out, there are Facebook , Twitter & Flickr groups and a Ustream feed already set up for the event as well as a Flashmeeting providing a backchannel which will run throughout the event so that attendees all around the world can participate in the event, and there are plans afoot to have all videos hosted on a TEDTalks-like portal so that the talks can be used to inspire others once the event is over.

There are lots more details on the wiki – well worth a look to find out what’s going on. And I’ll try and blog as much as I can!