From East to West in April/May

13-Jun-2009 Though the travel is exhausting and I miss my family terribly, I have to say I've spent two very enjoyable months presenting workshops between New Zealand and Western Australia.

April and May saw me travel almost constantly. For the first two weeks of April I presented workshops in Perth with my ITC Publications co-director, Gerard Alford, before I continued to Broome to teach at the inspiring Broome Senior High School and Broome Primary School for several days.

What makes all the travel worthwhile is hearing feedback such as these words that Gary Downsborough, Principal of Broome Senior High School emailed to me after my visit.

“The first time Eric presented a full-day seminar on “Cooperative Learning Strategies” to our staff (2007) the impact was immediate, with students being more engaged in their learning, to the extent that for the next two months we had very few, if any, behaviour issues. To embed these strategies within our staff planning we have just had Eric present again to all staff but also to upskill a number of our staff so they can train new staff. In this way, the benefits of the training are ongoing. Again, the effect has been a marked decrease in behaviour issues and more of our students are on task in every class.” - Gary Downsborough, Principal, Broome Senior High School

Isn't this wonderful to hear!

I then spent a few days at home in Brisbane before heading back to Auckland to present at the Westmount Education Trust for three days, followed by another stint in Perth for four days.

May saw me in Auckland at Papatoetoe High School and Alfriston High School. I then went on to Porirua with the Mana Education Centre and Bellview Primary School for two days. I popped home to Brisbane for one week and then returned to New Zealand for the final two weeks of May, visiting Garin College in Nelson, and then presented five workshops to first and second-year teacher graduates at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, encouraging the use of thinking tools to help address the New Zealand Key Competencies.

I was also fortunate to work with the Waimarino Cluster in Tauranga with Judy Buckley, the ICT Cluster coordinator and my final day was spent at Gate Pa School with Principal, Richard Inder. What I enjoyed about the staff at Gate Pa is that they are all so passionate about teaching there and it is clear to me that Richard has worked hard to motivate his staff and give them a real sense of ownership and purpose to their teaching.

---