Last day

Today is my last day in America, we are heading out early to the factory outlets, for the last minute power shop. I still haven't got everything I want so I hope we find it at Gilroy. My first stop is at the Nike shop, followed by the Adidas shop, I hope I have drawn the map properly. We only have 3 hours there then its a mad rush back to the hotel to pack and drive to San Francisco and fly to LA at 6pm. We then wait in transit in LA till 10.30pm and arrive home on Sunday morning - somewhere in the clouds we lose Saturday completely.

Sitting here reflecting on the trip, I have so many ideas floating round my head as to: How? Why?What next? I need to look at each school and what they were doing to make a difference to teaching and learning. I have lots of notes, footage and photos. Everyone I have meet has shared their vision, ideas and passion for what they are doing.

Highlights: The networks and relationships that have been formed, Central Elementary was probably the highlight of the schools visited they were trying something new with the iPod Touches and using them in a way to enhance teaching and learning. This was closely followed by Fisler School they had an amazing 1:1 programme throughout the school.

What was really noticeable was the pride the children had in both their school and their environment - the schools were all amazingly presented, students proud of their work and teachers keen to share their knowledge. We meet proud parents who talked openly about students, the ICT and learning. The teachers in the 1:1 and laptop classes all had access to children through email and blogs. The boundary seemed blurred - these children were keen to learn, they had the access to the information at their finger tips, they attended school trips on weekends with parents and made movies to show the class to support teaching and learning. I think we have have some thinking to do, they were achieving a lot in a very prescribed curriculum.