Today has been such a whirlwind.
Today I was privileged to be announced as an e-Fellow with Core Education for 2015. 
It was so surreal, hearing my name announced. Standing on stage, being introduced and sharing my inquiry with the nearly 2000 people in the audience was nerve-racking, but we were received so warmly by our fellow educators.

This is such a great opportunity.
I will be getting mentored by Core Education, while working to improve my own practice and research an educational inquiry of my design.  
I will be exploring what personalised and modern learning approaches work best together, to support Maori and Pasifika students to become engaged and empowered lifelong learners.

I can't wait to start working with some amazingly talented educators on this adventure.

Thanks to all of the people who stopped me today to congratulate me, or has messaged or tweeted me in support

On Monday, I was sitting having lunch with a friend before heading to study, when we were rudely interrupted by my mobile.

After complaining about the interruption and apologising to Tracy (@CrimsonNZ) I answered the phone.

My face soon turned to shock as I was informed I had been selected as an e-fellow for 2015! I was (and still am) in complete shock.

The next few minutes were spent trying to take in all the information John was giving me, while trying not to make too much of a scene in the cafe.

The hardest part of the whole thing is having to keep it hush, hush until the announcement next week at ULearn!

I can't wait to work with the fabulous CORE Education team, my fellow e-fellows and the amazing educators I will meet on this journey.  I really hope I can find some great answers to my questions that will make a difference for the learners.

I'm really excited to have sent off my e-fellow application (but now the waiting begins).

The e-fellowship is designed to transform your educational practice through inquiry.
It provides comprehensive professional learning opportunities and supports fellows to foster and share innovative practice and leadership throughout various educational communities and networks.

Below is a brief outline of my inquiry question and background.

There are so many great ideas to personalise learning - IEPs, goal setting, workshopping, facilitating, inquiry learning, MLEs to name a few. But which ones work best for my Maori and Pasifika rich classroom? How can these techniques work together to engage and accelerate learning? What skills and attitudes need developing alongside these approaches?

My inquiry will look into how we can best fit the pieces of the puzzle together for this specific cohort. What specifically works best to meet the needs of Maori and Pasifika low decile students to allow them equitable access to the personalised future-focussed learning they deserve?