Inaugural South Wales TeachMeet held at WHS

On Thursday 10th February 2011 between 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm the school was delighted to host the inaugural South Wales TeachMeet in the Upper School Hall. A TeachMeet is a collaborative event when teachers get together and observe colleagues who have volunteered to give either a seven talk or two-minute micro-presentation on a topic of their choice on learning and teaching. A TeachMeet usually lasts for between two to three hours with a break for refreshments.

The event was organised by Karen Newby-Jones (LEA Science Adviser), with invaluable input from Stuart Ball (Manager of the Microsoft Partners in Learning Network) as well as providing raffle prizes and refreshments. Alessio Bernardelli (NGfL Cymru Field Development Officer) was pivotal in ensuring that all the web interface worked on the evening. We were very grateful to all those who helped organise and support the event, which was very successful. The school’s ICT support team deserves every plaudit they received for the enormous amount of work they undertook in preparing for the event and for the technical assistance given on the evening.

The TeachMeet was sponsored by a number of organizations including RM, NUT, Brain POP and Espresso Education. Colleagues travelled from around South Wales to participate and over 60 attended. One of the key aspects of any TeachMeet is that colleagues who cannot travel are able to watch on line and also contribute to the evening. This could be from anywhere in the world as the event is streamed live on the web. It was a fun and informative evening and one, which contained some outstanding innovative practice. Lively and informative presentations were given on a number of topics with many focusing on the use of ICT to further engage learners.

It is hoped that a similar South Wales event will be held in the future. Plans are already being made supported by National Grid For Learning Cymru. (NGFL)

Click on the links below for further information:

- TeachMeet You Tube Carton
- Archive footage from the TeachMeet Thursday 10th February 2011
- Presenter Links from the evening on the NGfL-Cymru blog
- Microsoft Partners in Learning Network
- Future TeachMeet events
- TeachMeet at Whitchurch High School, Cardiff Council’s Press release