DigCitSummit SpyQuest Mission – Help Recruit Ellie the Elephant

As you may know we have had a fantastic experience with SpyQuest as a user and as someone involved in Education. Today myself and my son accompanied Agent Jones to recruit Ellie the Elephant at Westquarter Primary school.

Agent Jones was supposed to join the Skype call when the kids finished singing “I would walk 500 miles”… Instead, just before the mission went live he told me I would be doing a training exercise first.

I had make some notes en route and then borrowed Ms Jelland’s computer to type it up. Just as well we were an hour early… who bothers with daylight savings time when you’re out of work. Right?

Glad Agent Isaac is able to get work unlike his Dad, *Sigh*
LOL! About the clocks today though!

I'm an out of work #EdTech #Cmgr in Scotland because there are no jobs... get me out of here! Ideally CA.

I will add to this post over the weekend to include what happen before and after the call but here’s and EdTech Story that includes

A Nervous Skype Call with A Connected Educator

Mr Swinney, Mr Russell, Ms Fabiani,

We need, as educators and parents, to model
Digital Leaders for kids everywhere
To connect classrooms on Twitter and Skype
with educators and policy makers with
schools locally but we need to learn
and globally kids at Westquarter and at Utah today
Help Ellie

Be a kind kid, be change you want to see… Build the #EdTechBridge because we are #BetterTogether

I would like to talk to you today about my world of work and my work as a parent.

We tell our kids that they can do anything they set their mind to, that their words are the most powerful things in the world, and that books are the most powerful weapons… They can only do anything they set their mind to IF they prepare and do their best.

You have the ability to change the world… you really do. With an Idea

We don’t just tell them these things, we try to show them! For example, I wanted to work with innovative tech companies.

Has anyone here heard of Microsoft? What about Apple? Oracle?

Oracle is a tricky one because they make tech you can’t see… It’s a company for dreamers who have their head in the clouds. But their products are in so many things that we use.

Who would like to work at Microsoft making Xbox games or work on a car that goes 1,000 miles an hour? That’s faster than a bullet… I’m not sure if that’s faster than Superman or the Flash

It was a Microsoft executive that told me to get on Twitter and other social media channels in 2010 because

It comes with the job today if you want to be in EdTech

I was nervous delivering those first messages online, putting myself out there… but who is it today who is telling educators that

It comes with the job today if you want to be an educator AND develop the young workforce

My CV had sat on Microsoft’s servers for 6 years unnoticed. Last year I got the following message after assisting with the Skypeathon

"William if you ever do take a break from connecting the world, we would love to have a conversation on the MIEE program in Scotland... your passion, committment and skills are admirable"

The person I met said “You’re a lot different in real life than your online presence.”

I “Lack presence” in face to face meetings and I get anxious... before I put myself out there online and publishing my words for the world to see this was a HUGE problem as my first impression would be bad. 

People get to know me in my preferred medium before we meet now… and that can make all the difference!

There are no jobs in Scotland for what I want to do, so I got work with someone who some commentators were calling “The Google of Education” but communicating remotely was causing problems because I wasn’t shown how to do this effectively.

Have you heard of a book called “Oh The Places You’ll Go?” Or what about “The Little Engine That Could?” and

I Think I Can!... I Think I Can!... I Think I Can!

I was saying this all the way here today and I’m saying it in my head right now too!

Another great author is Jane Jacobs who said

“I place a great deal of faith in our young people, they don’t have as much trouble accepting new ideas”

I agree with her, my friend, Agent Jones believes this too… he thinks that kids make the best Spy Guys.

When on Spy Quest missions will you be flying high? You Sure WILL!!

Will you get separated from the other agents and be alone in tricky situations? Will you fall off the Eiffel tower and land with an unpleasant bump? I sure hope NOT!!

But you might get left in the lurch or need to sit in the waiting place for a while.

But will you succeed? 98 and three quarter percent guaranteed!!

Westquarter Primary kids in @ElliePrimary1 class, you’ve ALREADY moved mountains to connect today.

Dr Seuss was an introvert and never met his young readers because he didn’t want to disappoint his young fans.

In Susan Cain’s book Quiet, she discussed how Steve Wozniak worked:

"Most inventors and enginners I've met are like me - they're shy and they live in their heads. They're almost like artists. In fact the best of them are artists. And artists work best alone where they can control an inventions design without a lot of other people designing it for marketing or some other committee. I don't believe anything really revolutionary has been invented by committee. If you're that rare engineer who's an inventor and also an artist, I'm going to give you some advice that might be hard to take. That advice is : Work alone.You're going to be best able to design revolutionary products and features if you're working on your own. Not on a committee. Not on a team."

You guys don’t have this problem today because my son’s favourite author, who is a Spy Guy, LOVES meeting his young readers, and politely asked if he’d come here today to talk about a special #DigCit mission he’s working on.

Until we got the mission brief at at 10:30am today, Isaac did not know much of the story over the last few years… He does now. He knows that you have been training Agent Curran… I hope both our boys work together.

Calling Isaac over, I hope you are always a kind kid!

I have a challenge for you too. Who makes the best kind of #DigCit SpyQuest stories… Introverts? Or extrverts? Let’s develop the #EdTechBridge because we are #BetterTogether

*Waves* to any New Teachers to Twitter #NT2T… Please say hi to @ShyJ for me

Oh The Places You'll Go - Connected Educator Style
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyfxxMxuKm4
https://flipgrid.com/95222d

Do you Like Classroom Skype and Webcams?

Do you like Classroom Skype and webcams?
I do not like them, because Spy-I-am.
I do not like Classroom Skype and Webcams.
Would you like to Skype from here or there?
I would not like them here or there.
I would not like them anywhere.
I do not like Classroom Skype and Webcams.
I do not like them, because covert agent I am.
Would you like it in your house?
Would you then click on the mouse?
I might Skype from the house.
Am I the only one who still uses a mouse?
I do not like being here on this day.
I wonder if I might like it someday.
I do not like Classroom Skype and webcams.
I do not like them, but when the #Bethatkindkid #DigCit Spy Quest mission is live, I guess am a fan!!