always learning

After the success of our last K12Online LAN party, we have another one coming up this week! If you are in town, or even if you’re not, we would love to have you join us!

Our teachers absolutely loved experiencing the power of global connections firsthand. As Diane said to me last week, as often as we hear about the potential of these tools, it’s hard to truly understand until you experience them for yourself. So, if you have a few minutes to connect with us, we would absolutely love to connect with you!

Here are the details:

Dear Fabulous Colleagues,

We had a fantastic time learning together last weekend at our very first K12Online LAN party! Not only did we watch 2 excellent presentations and share some inspiring ideas, but we also had a lively discussion with another amazing educator, Silvia Tolisano in Florida via Skype. Check out a few pictures.

We found the event so worthwhile that we are planning to continue these casual sessions on a regular basis. Of course, we would love to have even more of our wonderful colleagues there as well!

Our next party will be on Thursday, November 20th from 3:30 – 5:30 (check your time here), with a plan to head to the River Tree House afterwards for a delicious dinner.

What: A mind-bending, inspiring, and energizing conversation about new teaching and learning practices based on a variety of K12Online presentations
When: Thursday, November November 20th from 3:30 – 5:30
Where: ISB Teacher Housing, Nichada Thani
Why: to get geeked! And to enjoy being among a community of learners so enthusiastic and excited about using new tools!

Please feel free to pass on this invite to any other teachers you know in the Bangkok area.

Please let us know if you’re planning on coming so we can prepare

We hope to see you there!

Inspired by Silvia, Johnathan and Simon, Chrissy and I will be hosting a K12 Online LAN (local area network) party this Saturday morning at my apartment in downtown Bangkok. Unfortunately we’re a little late getting started because of the way our October break fell on the school calendar this year, but we are no less enthusiastic!

Already we have some of my amazing colleagues joining us: Heather, Sara, Ali, Tara, and of course Chrissy and I. I was fortunate to also attend a meeting of Bangkok international school librarians yesterday afternoon and hope to see a few of those familiar faces Saturday morning. I wish I knew more of my fellow teachers here in the city – given that there are over 90 international schools in Thailand, I would guess that we have a captive audience. It’s just a matter of getting the word out!

So, earlier this week, I sent around the following e-mail to all of my colleagues at ISB and to as many fellow international school teachers as I know here in Thailand:

Dear Fabulous Colleagues,

As some of you may know, there is an amazing (and totally free) conference happening online right now! It’s called the K12Online conference and it features digital presentations (videos, podcasts, wikis, VoiceThreads) by some of the leading minds in 21st century learning.

Topics range from project-based learning, to using video conferencing in the classroom, to connecting students through global projects, to dealing with the rapid pace of technological change as a classroom teacher, and more.

All of these presentations are described and posted online at the conference website: http://k12onlineconference.org/

But wait, there’s more!

Chrissy Hellyer (grade 5 teacher) and I would like to invite you to a K12Online Local Area Network pot-luck brunch party on Saturday, November 8th from 10:00 – noon to watch the best of the best presentations and discuss how we can use these new ideas in our teaching.
What: A mind-bending, inspiring, and energizing conversation about new teaching and learning practices based on a variety of K12Online presentations
When: Saturday November 8th from 10:00 am – noon (and now you’re already downtown for a day of shopping and dining in the city!)
Where: Kim’s apartment, downtown Bangkok
Why: to get geeked! And to enjoy a delicious pot-luck brunch!

I will download all of the presentations so that we can watch as many as we want and everyone can walk away with all of the presentations to watch when you have time.

We would also love to open this up to other international school teachers here in Bnagkok, so if you know any other teachers that might be interested in attending, please pass it on!

Please let us know if you’re planning on coming so we can prepare

Kim and Chrissy

So if you’re teaching here in Bangkok, or just happen to be in the city (it’s amazing how many people come through Bangkok on a regular basis), or even if you’re not, we would absolutely love to have you join us – either in person or via Skype!

Anyone have any suggestions for how to host this kind of party? I barely even have any wall space to project the presentations on to… I definitely need to start thinking logistics!