During the vacation we had a meeting of interested people and Splendour in the Class is definitely taking off on 27th July with an amazing opening night of presentations and ideas within the Newcastle School site in Union Street, Cooks Hill.

Then, on Saturday 28th, we’ll be expanding on some of the ideas and adding others in a parallel workshop and barcamp program.

We want your ideas for a program of one hour workshops.

These workshops will be scheduled to run from:

• 10.30am to 11.30am
• 11.30am to 12.30pm
• 1.30pm to 2.30pm and
• 2.30pm to 3.30pm

We will have up to five classroom sized spaces available to use as workshop spaces.

You don’t have to be a school based teacher to suggest workshop activities.

• Maybe you are linked with a gallery, museum or activity centre and have some great ways to share that people can use your resources and space.
• Maybe you are a pocket film maker who is keen to share ways that you think teachers could work with young people to enable them to use digital media production as a way to enhance their learning.
• Perhaps you are a local historian who is keen to take a group on a quick street walk and then workshop possible lesson activities to increase awareness of the factors of change in built environments.
• Or, you could be interested in talking to teachers about ways that they can incorporate creative playmaking into their learning sequences.
• And, you might simply have some great ideas, tools, tips and tricks which work for you and which you’d like to share with others. Please do!

So, the possibilities are endless.  Please remember that this whole festival is about ‘Future Schooling: Imagining the Possibilities….‘ So, let’s not be restricted to a view of what’s been done before.  Feel free to pitch your idea.

Please use the ‘Add Proposal’  tab above to enter the information we need to know so that we can develop a workshop program and the opportunity for people to plan and book their learning.

If you’d like to propose more than one workshop, then please submit a separate form for each proposal.

Hunter Central Coast Teachmeet will be held on Friday July 27th between 5.30 and 9.30 pm. Our hashtag for this event is #tmhcc.  This event will promoted through social networks, including Twitter, Facebook and Yammer. Feel free to organise some friends, register your attendance and come along. Be prepared to share, laugh and learn.  This event is open to all staff outside of the Hunter Central Coast Region.

Then, on the next day: Saturday 28th July, join in at the Hunter Central Coast TeachFair: a event where you can sample a range of great teaching ideas, join in hands on workshops, chat with others, follow up with more from some TeachMeet Presenters, present your ‘cool idea worth sharing‘ in a barcamp format and simply enjoy being with other passionate educators in the informal surroundings of the Newcastle School – Union St 

Along with some informal poster style and booth presentations you’ll be able to select structured workshops to attend or, in a parallel program, take part in our Education barcamp; where a large whiteboard, with spaces for 4 rooms, and half hour timeslots, is used as a simple organiser where anyone with an idea to share can grab a space for a half hour session.

We’ll be putting the call out soon for proposals for the workshop sessions.  If interested, we’ll have a number of rooms available and will provide 1 hour timeslots.  If we can scrounge enough gear, we’ll have a dataprojector and screen in each room and there will be wireless internet access.

If you’d like to submit a proposal to run a workshop, keep your eye on Twitter and Yammer for information when the submission site is open. We’ll need to know a basic outline, who the intended audience would be, what they can expect to walk away with in terms of skills, knowledge, attitudes etc, and any special needs which may impact on our planning. So, get those brain cells ticking!

The TeachFair will run from 10.00am until 3pm.

Looking forward to working with you.

#tmhcc team

Splendour in the Class

A few weeks ago, Sydney teachers claimed a world record for attendance at a TeachMeet: a collegially derived sharing get together of teachers.

The commitment and enthusiasm was clearly evident and commented on in a blog post from Maralyn Parker, writing for the Daily Telegraph.

Well, we think that here in the Hunter Central Coast we can give that record a definite shake.  We have some great people doing a host of creative and collaborative things, and we’d love the chance to share and celebrate. So, you’d love to be part of it, wouldn’t you?  Please take a minute or two to register your interest.  Just click the icon at right.

Looking forward to working with you.

Planning begins this week for TeachMeet Hunter CC: and opportunity to bring teachers together and also to claim the world record recently achieved in Sydney.

We’re looking at an amazing event in a few months time. If you’d like to be kept up to date and to have the chance to get involved, why not register a few details so that we can make sure that you don’t miss out on being as little or as much involved as you’d like to be.