What an experience! Sorry, this could be a long post.
As part of our journey for MIT23 we are lucky enough to be presenters at the Bay of Island's Teacher's Summit 2023. This summit was an incredible opportunity for so many reasons; meeting new people, discussing interesting ideas, and learning new skills, and tools that we can take home for our akonga.
The journey up began bright and early on the first Saturday of the school holidays. Forgoing the usual bliss of the first sleep-in of the holidays, I gathered my bags and was dropped off at school. I load the school van and pick up my trusted travel companion, Mr Goodwin on the way. The weather on the way out of Auckland had me dreaming about the "Winterless North". Rain poured for hour after hour, when finally we reach Kawakawa, less than half an hour from our destination, and more than an hour ahead of our airport run. We were feeling good. With our satnav turned off, and arrogance coursing through our veins we follow the path through Kawakawa, and head north over the "up downs" (iykyk).
After another hour of driving we become suspicious that something had gone awry. "Surely we should be there by now. Surely we can't have missed the signs." Ahh, yeah. We had. I'm not sure how familiar you are, reader, of New Zealand geography, but let me give you a fun fact. Oponone (where we were) and Paihia (where we should have been) are on opposite coasts. Feeling about as dumb as it's possible to feel, we reluctantly turned on the satnav to inspect the situation. Maps said we should be okay, we continue this road, hang a right, 9km of bush road, and we'll be right back to where we should be. I'm still thankful to whoever decided, as we made our way through hairpin turns, and narrowing unpaved roads, to turn the rain off. The only dry part of our drive was through the bush, and by golly, that was lucky.
What was even luckier was that after the slight detour, we arrived at the Kerikeri Airport just as my fellow MIT colleagues walked out of the airport, none the wiser that they might have been stuck there had we not made it out of the bush.
On our way to the accommodation we catch up; it's been such a lovely experience working alongside these teachers. They are creative, passionate, and as the title of our program would suggest, innovative, and I'm so lucky to have worked alongside them this year. We remark that this will all soon come to an end and that we're going to have to make sure we keep in touch after this is all said and done.
We're up bright and early for our first day of the Summit. The day begins with a beautiful powhiri, and a korero from the respective rangatahi. The keynote speaker for the event was the principal of our gracious host school, Bay of Islands College, Mrs Edith Painting.
The first day was comprised of several wonderful workshops, a beautiful kai for lunch, and an awesome cultural experience. I chose to visit the Waitangi Treaty Grounds; I hadn't been since a teen, and my knowledge and understanding of Te Tiriti had definitely increased my hunger to learn more about such a significant place in Aotearoa New Zealand history.
Day two was our turn. We were the first presenters, and unlike the other presenters, who were only presenting to a classroom full of teachers, we presented in the hall in front of all of them. I'm sure many of you will empathise; the classroom is our safe space, and where we feel most comfortable speaking publicly. Speaking in a hall, at an assembly, or at a summit, that's another kettle of fish.
One of the best parts of this program is that we never have to do anything on our own. The support and encouragement that we give to each other was such a strong help, and I don't know if I would have been able to do the same on my own.
I'll leave you with a couple of links to explore if you'd like to see more of our adventure! It was honestly such a blast, and an experience that I will not forget.
