Spoil yourself with excitement!

It felt like when I was a child.
It felt like Christmas and birthday together because there were so many presents.
It felt like never ending exploring and endless surprises.
It felt like being a(n) artist creator again.  

During the last 10 days I attended three conferences: #iPadk5 @UWCSEA Singapore, EduTech Asia in Singapore and #deeplearners @Nexus International School Kuala Lumpur. Especially since I started working at GESS (German International School Singapore) , how often have I thought and spoken about my goal that we educate students and give them the chance to be creators?! How often have I used the buzz C – words like: Character – Communication – Cultural Competence – Collaboration – Critical Thinking – Content Knowledge – Creativity?!

But how often do you (I) create something?

I think we are creating, designing, innovating all the time: Lessons, ideas, solutions, plans, meetings, documents, spaces, and so on. We are just not aware of it. The last 10 days gave me the opportunity to become more aware of it, to appreciate it and to create and explore even more. It is FUN. Creating is FUN. And it is so much LEARNING.

I created
 Sketchnotes (Creation and tomorrow) – It’s a beginning and I’m proud that I started.
 Videos (link to YouTube)
 Touch cast News
 Tweets (@blaho_blaho)
 A visual picture to reflect on one of those days with PicCollage
 Stop motion of my idea of an ideal learner
 Ideas for an app (Design Sprint)
 Ideas and a prototype through Design Thinking (Motivation)
 An algorithm of the song “I’m happy”
 …

I failed a lot but as you know: (F)irst (A)ttempt (I)n (L)earning. Not everything was new to me. I read about it, I did some of the stuff with students, I tried myself but there is always something challenging. I was out of my comfort zone. It felt good. That’s how change feels. I’m happy to go back to work tomorrow and start the avalanche.

How could I sketchnote this blog post? Anyways … Also reminds me of a colleague who played the guitar in front of us teachers and said: “Wow – ich bin mal wieder aufgeregt.” (in English: Wow – I’m excited/nervous again.) He liked it.

When have you felt like this last time? When have you been excited about learning the last time? What is your story?