Dear blog,
I must apologise for neglecting you for the last FIVE months but we have been busy...
A year ago, I blogged that 2011 was gong to be the year that we started the wheels rolling in order to move our lives to Australia. Well, we did it and much more quickly than I would have ever thought! The New Year resolution (planned before hand) made just after the final chime of 2010 was brought to fruition when we touched down at Tullamarine airport in Melbourne on the 1st December 2011. In 11 months, I had found a fantastic job (miraculously in a school as innovative and exciting as Cramlington Learning Village) as Leading Teacher - Personalised Learning at John Monash Science School in Melbourne, applied for and received a working visa, found a primary school for my son, opened bank accounts and health care, packed up and (fingers crossed just waiting to exchange...) sold a house, shipped our worldly goods (still waiting for them to arrive BTW), left jobs, left a primary school, said good bye to family and friends and flown 10,000 miles to start our new life on the other side of the world, talk about life long learning...
This has been one of the steepest learning curves my wife, my six year old son and I have ever been on. We are learning, unlearning and relearning every day, using every ounce of our previous knowledge in a new context and loving every minute of it. Now this blog is about learning so I will leave my personal journey here (although it is inevitably entwined with every aspect of my own learning and how I try to support others in their learning) but I have a lot to blog about from my new school from setting up truly personal learning portfolios with realsmart, to planning the use of ipads in learning, the design thinking planning approach we have taken in emerging technologies (yes, that is a subject in my school, well not a subject, more a way of learning) and writing the ultimate personal learning course...
Many challenges lie ahead and I look forward to sharing them with you.
Welcome to Melbourne! (I've been here about a year coming from Switzerland) Look forward to hearing your insights (I'm starting a Grad Dip. in education at Monash)
Posted by: Beatriz Dichtl | January 03, 2012 at 03:57 AM
Hi Beatriz,
loving it so far despite the strange hot/cool weather!Will you be at the Clayton Campus? If so, come and see us soemtime as we are on the south west corner of the campus!
Chris
Posted by: Chris | January 03, 2012 at 04:10 AM
Hi Chris, I will, indeed, be on the Clayton campus. I have noticed the building on my visits to the campus but have not ventured inside. Once my courses start I will come explore.
Posted by: Beatriz Dichtl | January 03, 2012 at 04:23 AM
Congratulations, Chris! We'll miss your innovation and enthusiasm over here, but all the best in Oz! :-)
Posted by: Doug Belshaw | January 03, 2012 at 09:27 AM
Well done the Hartes! It'll be fascinating to compare you experience with the UK, where learning seems to be a dirty word unless it's the brainless 3 Rs - Ram, Remember, Regurgitate. You're well out of it. Just throw another prawn on the barbie and try to think of us as the rain beats mercilessly against the windows here, driven by howling gale force winds!
Posted by: Bootleian | January 03, 2012 at 10:38 AM
Exciting times, Chris! Really looking forward to hearing of your innovation journey over in Melbourne. Enjoy, and the very best of luck.
Posted by: Prim | January 03, 2012 at 09:37 PM
Well done Chris! All the best and please please keep in touch as you know we love to learn from your learning...
Posted by: Isabelle Jones | January 07, 2012 at 12:51 PM
Congratulations, Chris. We are looking forward to hearing about your journey. Good luck.
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