Got a Great Project? Share!! #msief

Shea Grisham,North Carolina (USA) and Linda Bradfield (South Africa)

The bandwidth issues experienced here in South Africa, called the most wired country in South Africa, have hit home for me.  Really, I haven’t been yelling and stomping my feet – it would do no good. I’ve been doing what I can do — grabbing my handy camera and recording everything I can to share with you when I get online.

This is what people do and why we must be flexible as we collaborate globally.  Great barriers have been overcome by teachers here and lots of hard work has been part of what they’ve done!

Tell Your Story
This has truly been a great experience and I hope that even more teachers will apply for the Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Teachers Forum next year. It is a competition and I’m so impressed with those who have made it here. They use a variety of tools — some Microsoft, some not, but many are using the free tools as a component of what they are doing. Next year, we will be in the US in Washington, DC.  But to get there, one has to compete in three rounds of competition!

Microsoft is worldwide and the projects demonstrated here have a richness and diversity I’ve not seen at anything else I’ve attended in the world. Honorees are indeed all incredibly inspirational. I wish I could post a recording with all of them.

I’m tremendously impressed with the diversity and calibre of the educators here and have found myself on the verge of tears many time as my own tendency to complain and whine about the comparatively insignificant problems of my own classroom have reared into my psyche.

Writing the Book on Global Collaboration

I was chatting Julie for the only brief moment we’ve talked this week and let her know that I’ve got some incredible stories to add to the Flat Classroom book that we’re tweaking this week. These stories deserve to be told and as a teacher, it is an honor to feel as if I am one of the ones to tell it.  People have long been telling our stories for us, it is time for teachers to tell our own story!! (Our book from Pearson will be out January 2012.)

Hope you continue to take time to watch some of these videos and get inspired!