Microsoft Innovative Educators Forum – Brazil 2009

Here is the link to the Microsoft Canada news release:

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Microsoft Canada Partners in Learning for the opportunity to attend the Innovative Education Forum in Brazil last week. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for which I am deeply grateful.

The forum was valuable on so many levels. First, it provided an opportunity for a group of Canadian teachers from different provinces to network, discuss the status of education in each of our regions and share best practices. The forum also provided an opportunity for meaningful collaboration with teachers from across the globe. We gained access to expert speakers who inspired us with their vision of the future of education. In addition, we got a sneak peek at some emerging hardware and software that will change the way we deliver content to students.

It is difficult to put into words how powerful this experience was for me as a veteran teacher. The project I brought to the forum was called “Everybody’s Gotta Story” and for me this statement bests sums up the forum experience. So often we judge others based on only limited knowledge of their stories. We make broad generalizations that are based more on perception than they are on the facts. The forum gave us a chance to share our stories in a very personal way. I now have a deeper empathy for the challenges teachers in many developing nations face. I also have a clearer sense of where the pathfinders in our group are heading and can make more informed choices about the direction I want to take with my students in my classroom.

For me the forum is only the beginning of the journey. The experience helped illuminate the path, now I must navigate my way in order to achieve my personal goals as a teacher. Fortunately, I no longer face that journey alone. I now have some collaborators both from within our country and across the world that are on the same path. I am confident that we will work together to overcome the obstacles that we will encounter and support each other in the journey for which the destination, as it always is in education, is constantly changing.

This is a voice thread I used to communicate with my students while we were in Brazil. Some of their comments are priceless!

Our journey’s nearly over and tomorrow we return home.  While our busy schedule has sometimes made it difficult to maintain contact at home– we are thinking of them often. It will be fun to return to Canada and share with our family and friends all the wonderful memories we took away from this trip.  We have made contacts with educators around the world, and often in talking to them we discover how truly blessed we are to live and teach in a country where freedom and opportunity abound.   So while it has been a wonderful, once in a life time experience here in Brazil– it will be nice to be back home once again.  

Having said this, I’m not sure what shape I will find the house in after being away for such a long time.  My daughter has sent me daily e-mails which have updated me on the state of the house which has gone from:

Monday:  

Gramdma Z is cleaning here. The whole house looks new here. She’s cleaned out my cupboard. 

 Wednesday:

Kaylies woke up right now! Now the whole house looks like a mess! The kids have got out the blocks

to Friday:

WHAT A MESS IT WAS TODAY! You shoud of seen it. It was a pig pen in here. Gramdma did’t get pass even 1 toy.

Yes– it’s good to be going home, even if it does mean having to catch up on the housework!   And unlike Vegas– where what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas– our travels to Brazil can only lead to better teaching and greater collaboration than ever before.   And that’s worth going home to.

Our week here in Brazil is almost over, but it has been a very enjoyable week with a chance to learn a great deal. After spending time exploring both Sao Paulo and Salvador, the thing that you will notice the most is the how life is so incredibly different depending where you go. In Brazil, there are two groups – the rich and the poor. There really is no middle class. Sao Paulo is a city of about 18 million people and everywhere you go, you see people living on the street, garbage on street corners and graffiti written all over abandoned buildings. Then you travel to a different part of the city and you see neighbourhoods that are very well off. Salvador is very similar to Sao Paulo, but this city has many visitors each year. It is located on the Atlantic Ocean and the views are breathtaking! Here, the differences between the rich and the poor are also evident. It makes you realize just how lucky we really are to be living in Canada, even if it snows and gets really, really cold. I have taken so many things away from this trip, one being the importance of learning about new cultures and appreciating them.

J. Hafenbrak

The zoo South American style!

Today we visited Mercado Market.  Here are a few life lessons you may have taken away from the experience.

1.  All things are negotiable.

2. Beware of men with beads.

3.  A calculator is an excellent communication tool, but a smile is even better. 

4.    Music and art are worlds that can be shared even when words cannot.

5.   Bank machines are not as simple to use as you might think.

6.    Don’t put chocolate in your pockets.

7.   Wear sensible shoes.

8.   Sometimes the perfect white dress for a gala can be found in unexpected places.

The Perfect Gown

9. Always remember to wear sunscreen.

10.   If you took a memory away from the market– then you walked away with a treasure– even if it did cost you 50 reais more than what your roomate paid for it!

Beware of Men Carrying Beads

Lots of wonderful sights and sounds as we visited the market.  Clearly designed for tourists, vendors sold everything from t-shirts to key chains to paintings.

Au son des vagues je tiens à vous partager que je suis présentement en train de vivre une expérience extraordinaire! Les membres de la délégation canadienne sont tout à fait génial; tous sont innovateurs et passionnés. Les liens que nous tissons permettront sans aucun doute d’élaborer de beaux projets collaboratifs.

Demain, nous préparons nos kiosques et mercredi nous présentons nos projets. Tous les projets canadiens sont de grande qualité.

D’un autre part, le brésil est un beau pays. Les gens sont chaleureux, les plages sont belles et la nourriture excellente.

À bientôt,
Mme Geneviève