Learning Without Frontiers teachmeet #tmlwf11

I attended my first real life teachmeet today.

It was part of the Learning Without Frontiers Conference, London 2011. It was held in 'The Brewery' in EC1, not far from the Barbican. It was a beautiful building with something going on in every room. There were lots of other things going on throughout the day, but I didn't have time to get to much. I arrived there at about 3.30pm and the 'Sunday Service' had been going on since 11am. We (I went with sister-in-law) went to the 'Experience Room' first, and probably spent a bit too long in there. The trouble was - we got hijacked by GCSEPOD, an app developer who wanted to sell us their wares. Neither of us have the say-so of our schools to make any sort of purchase, let alone such a large one (thousands per year!) so their time was somewhat wasted, but at least we got to hear about something new at its launch.

I definitely wanted to attend at least some of the Pecha Kucha event, but it was so packed we couldn't get in the door - and there didn't seem to be actually any sort of Pecha Kucha presentation going on - just someone talking at the front.

So we wandered in to the MirandaMod 'unconference'. It was quite empty with a few people discussing the role of ICT in education. I wasn't sure if I wanted to be there, but it would have seemed rude to walk straight back out again, so we stayed awhile. Then, in walked the creator of Learning Without Frontiers: Graham Brown-Martin! He was asked a question and had lots to say in reply! I found him wonderful to listen to - the sort of person you could hear speak for hours and never tire of him. He had an energy about him. Sadly the unconference had come to the end, but we were given a card, with a suggestion to visit MirandaNet and the wiki and sign up.

And then on to the teachmeet.

It was everything I expected it to be (having viewed many on-line). I watched many of the educators that I follow on twiiter, and spoke to Andy Kemp - someone I have interacted with many times, as a fellow maths teacher. I also listened to another maths teacher: Daniel Stucke, who I am now following.

There are some seriously innovative educators out there - but the majority come from the Primary Sector.

Why is that?

I do think that secondary teachers can be very insular - our classrooms become our world, and little exists outside of it. We are also VERY dominated by a full and rigid curriculum. We have so much to get through, that we do it any way we can.

However, a Secondary Mathematics teacher can be inspirational, if only they have the creativity to go with it. I've always said I'm not the most creative of people. I'm too logical. Too linear.

But I have ideas. My ideas just don't come to fruition all that often. I put it down to a lack of time - or is it really a lack of time management.

I so want to be inspirational, just like the people I heard speak today, but I'm not sure I know how to be?