Some days are just an absolute joy to be at work.  Wednesday was one of those days.  Wednesday was the day the doors of our classroom got wide open and in streamed a little bit of Iceland.

I was really lucky to meet and get to know Alan Levine (aka CogDogBlog) at the Learning2.0 Conference back in September this year, in Shanghai, China.  During one of our many meet ups with fellow conference goers staying at the Forte Hotel, Alan happened to mention that he was going to be spending a month looking after the house and animals of an Architect, in Iceland.  My ears and my “cheekyness” levels immediately perked up – so I asked him if he would skype with us when he was in Iceland.

On Wednesday we did just that.  At 7.30am Thai time and 12.30pm am Icelandic time, these two vastly different places in the world  connected.  One blasted by heat, the other being buffeted by wind, rain and snow.  Today my students got another piece of the “exploration and how/where does that fit into the world I’m living in right now” puzzle.  And it was such a simple thing to arrange.  All you have to do is ask. (Nicely of course).

My students were great participants.  They watched the skype conversation via our smartboard if they weren’t up at the laptop asking questions.  We’d prepared our questions before hand and that helped the conversation flow.  Even when we’d gone through all of our original questions, more questions followed and I was impressed with the thought and maturity that they all displayed.

When talking with students at the end of the day most talked about how Mr Levine helped them believe that each and everyone of us really is an explorer,  that you don’t even have to find a place that hasn’t been discovered yet.  If you’ve never done it or been there then you ARE exploring it.  Even some places can be explored many times over and you still find things you never found the first time.  Of course meeting Skinna was a definite highlight for the girls – and everyone will not forget that a meal of reindeer meat is coming up next week for Mr Levine to try.

Thank you Alan, for letting us ask you all those questions.  Enjoy the rest of your time in Iceland and I’m looking forward to seeing what Strawberry, Arizona looks like through the lens of a skype call!

I have to keep pinching myself because it seems so far-fetched that I’m flying to Shanghai, China in 6 days to attend the Learning2.0 Conference beginning with Edublogger Con on Thursday 18th September AND I get to fly with two fabulous friends and awesome bloggers Kim Cofino and Tara Ethridge AND catch up with fellow NZder Simon May who lives and teaches in Shanghai.

This is an amazing opportunity to catch up with invited guests David Warlick, Ewan MacIntosh, whom I have the absolute pleasure to meet and listen to already, as well as the chance to meet and listen to Clarence Fisher, Brian Crosby, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, Alan Levine and David Jakes.  That in itself just makes me incredibly excited.

My twitter network was a-twitter last week with questions of “Are you going to Learning2.0?”  My excitement was pushed three more steps up as I began to discover that many of the amazing people in my twitter-network were going to Shanghai also. I’m looking forward to meeting lots of fellow educators/bloggers from Australia and Qatar (can’t wait to meet you finally Julie!).  There’s going to be so much meeting and greeting – I was beginning to wonder when we might get time to attend a conference?!

Who would have thought that my excitement could step up a notch after all that? I didn’t think it was possible, but Jeff Utecht made it so.  He asked if I would be interested in doing a 45 minute presentation at Learning2.0 Shanghai!  Oh my goodness!  Are you kidding me?  Me?  Present? With all those famous people you already have lined up?  What a fabulous chance to give something back to the very community that got me started on this amazing journey of Web2.0 in the classroom.  Thanks for the opportunity Jeff!

So here’s the blurb for my presentation ……….  now I just need to put the finishing touches on it.