Teachers, ever wondered what takes place at Microsoft’s Partners in Learning Global Forum?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5Gp5xS3sXd4EgDAGXI9BP8nXh5Ynoz3zGZMrsZBnlyx8h3fpTfxin7q0psZ6OmjZblq7APyW8ZvHG33zQii_mhnooqYdLOtKBaU2iNse6IMywQj7jmewU7D_5OYUXlMqyoYCdY_vgGv4/s1600-h/image%25255B64%25255D.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="72" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfucUmnQWsrAstd9AwvaDJxTX-VXx2CDYVnvt2kxi9T0XY1In4j21Kam7E48blH3Sh_XWjnoXHpOHXfguvLz8iTYyK-hlxJX_IMHSL2vt2XTF7LiXGOU3GvoeRH9t1VIIA_cUGHgI0Yxc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="244" /></a></div><br /><em><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">Submitted by Fiona Beal with excerpts from the amazing <em>blog </em><a href="http://bellbulldogreaders.edublogs.org/"><em>Bulldog Readers</em></a> belonging to Julie Hembree of Seattle, a Global Forum finalist from the US. </span></em><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Teachers, it is time to start preparing to enter Microsoft’s Partners in Learning Forum for 2013, best known as the Microsoft Innovative Educator competition. This competition takes place in 119 countries around the globe and culminates in the Global Forum where the world winners are revealed… being a winner in this forum will change your life forever!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To spur you on let me tell you something about last year’s Global Forum where the winners from the various regional events around the world gathered in Prague, Czech Republic from November 28 - December 1, 2012. The theme of the Global Forum was “Your ideas matter”. 500 of the most innovative teachers, school leaders, education leaders, and government officials from 75 countries gathered together for this event and up for grabs were 18 Global Innovative Educator Awards. It must have been a very exciting place to be right then! </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Did South Africa have a representative?</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes! We were PROUDLY represented by Charli Wiggil from Durban with his fantastic project<em> Pay It Forward for the Blind. This</em> was a project that had students make Braille Memory cards and educational games, plus record MP3 storybooks and original stories for the blind. They are now used all over South Africa for blind children in their classes. Charlie encouraged as many people as he could to use their 67 Mandela minutes to record these stories for the blind in South Africa, but he also inspired teachers in at least 10 other countries to collect stories on his behalf. You can find out more about this on Charlie’s wiki <a href="http://pay-it-forward-for-the-blind.wikispaces.com/" title="http://pay-it-forward-for-the-blind.wikispaces.com/">http://pay-it-forward-for-the-blind.wikispaces.com/</a>. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />In the photo on the right below Charlie can be seen with Lucille Mahlatsi from Lesotho when they were both regional winners at the Morocco Forum earlier in the year. Lucille represented Lesotho – a country that has always done very well in the Microsoft Forums.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" style="width: 400px;"> <tbody><tr> <td valign="top" width="200"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbQjO6IaXRT87ViEhfd2MQVHO6H4HX3gMVkdlU1OdqI3AQK7a85cyPia2CT-rncqld8YlHR-Isv8TPNlB2Ll0IdxAJFPzp9K0JdzcXoB0JaLa7drtqhiwpFQ15nW_SooJaeRJEvFtBBq4/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="249" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charli Wiggil in Prague</td></tr></tbody></table><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSdWIorzRkdNOLS1vnXrSRYPkYXc4ty3cGsAIoP4nbd37zsyVwu3HbuubuAuSIyIBEpC3dx7MYjGjAynRbvlz8G1k4f94m7M3hRc1Si1oI3IjfvJPVtbtif-sF5Asabwm_ZhpgeGk0ckw/s1600-h/image%25255B60%25255D.png"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a></td> <td valign="top" width="10"></td> <td valign="top" width="189"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZJXa2JSV5rhNq_LDtFUKB7FUtKogkP3AcGKQ6CnKhFuhtbDaMzbMf-knbph0D4FOT4Jumca2lldeZEgces5AyAFxxl6TihgAgv2dQ-AzFQbtpYrez523ifJoqqVYFFN-s2iIr619EOX0/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="220" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Charli and Lucille - winners in Morocco</td></tr></tbody></table><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0sc1Yqt-a-i12zuGDmLXdDt8iyBCeCCmipO8gfMOgmdYZF0bp2ByRObFJZ692hQCnAIW6zTkrtMRfQ0aLAsAXuUAub1_4VtAfbSznHkAQy9kJuXWxxXu0bI-CAFBkSrNZwAzUsAGWRto/s1600-h/image%25255B61%25255D.png"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I should add the link to Charli’s class’s </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaXw0QcoroI&feature=share&list=ULDaXw0QcoroI" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">YouTube video</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> about their project at this point. Unfortunately embedding has been disabled or I would have added the whole video here. To see what a project looks like when it features on Microsoft’s amazing PIL network for teachers (which I will talk about at the end of this post), take a look at Charli’s project </span><a href="http://www.pil-network.com/Resources/LearningActivities/Details/e3f3b4c6-5d17-4c6d-a939-02f5ef60bdae" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">here.</a><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">What actually happens at a Global Forum?</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“In the afternoon it was time to set up the teacher booths. Each project had a booth to use for showcasing their work. We hung posters and decorated our spaces so people who walked by could get a quick idea of each project. Our booths were arranged in alphabetical order by country. When you look at the top, you can see the name of the project and then the country of origin.” </span><a href="http://bellbulldogreaders.edublogs.org/2012/12/12/best-memories-of-the-global-forum/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Julie Hembree</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. (<i>I am fortunate to find a wonderful reflection from my blogging teacher friend Julie Hembree from Seattle who was a US finalist at the forum so I’ll be drawing extensively on that.</i>) Here is a picture of Julie next to her project </span><a href="http://www.pil-network.com/Resources/LearningActivities/Details/46a88fab-1323-4e92-9d39-f1d7aff0de05" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">‘Kid Lit movies – Book trailers for young readers.</a> <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTOT-GoWzf1Lvz05KBoCis3wWvdey0llD1u2X5zyZUwd9RMcAfjUghwNrz3jxijr0vwj_T0cEQay5ohkuFV7HHh7FStrnG5-J7mJOae5qZjM7c5Kd2itJaHzVy9Dfto1njCkQDeSpwwqQ/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="309" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Julie Hembree with her Kid Lit Movies project</td></tr></tbody></table><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDv_GyTc6JyicWn4rOXk8jHcgijpusesPeJBioyxbjU0SLqDSdiYzbozsjyELMXG8fX0N0tiuOoZWAwh1D8Fsk_MDQIazrGMBdR_U3wkEoX-OQqf1Evt086Wdaj45YbWIvwBNaEg4AOps/s1600-h/image%25255B19%25255D.png"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is some more about Julie’s Kid Lit Movies project on YouTube</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lhYnYV2qZcg" width="420"></iframe></span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“We had a welcome reception that evening. Each country wore something to indicate their team. It was a lot like going to the opening ceremony of the Olympics. Some people had team jackets, others had hats, or scarves. We all had our special name tags that we had to wear everywhere we went.(Julie)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Thursday was our first day of competition. Each project was given three judging times over the course of two days. A judge would come to your booth for 15 minutes and ask you in depth questions about your project. I had two judging times on Thursday and then another on Friday. It was a very busy time. When we weren’t being judged, most of us tried to go visit other booths to connect with other teachers and hear about different ideas.” (Julie)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A few Literacy projects to note </span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“In <a href="http://www.pil-network.com/Resources/LearningActivities/Details/3cf02fea-e69e-4af9-bd19-ca1554f41238">Let’s Go to the Movies</a><em></em> students in Colombia used Moviemaker to record movies they had written, acted in  and created about life in Colombia.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIDRLYQlgwHuWS9d-mGA5_XCQcNCVN6tAeUHvfSfARvHY3n_rAiSkOKAYXc0PUjo6ev9cF69isZieaX8_zD6G09Ns3DlbEnWTg3o7D-igCdhZ0-KrRmo4iRm4-SuZWSixy426ZOz-IhyphenhyphenM/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Let's Go To The Movies</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></div><br /><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“What’s Up Egypt?</em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> by Mr. LaVogue in Florida had his students combine a news television show with rap music. They created a video show in moviemaker showcasing what they had learned about life in ancient Egypt in the lyrics of the music.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSxAazZgVYCqYbox0L86IjfAF97bV7pnTnMdJEnA7QyzYStiZIMrOLGIZCyZUh9umDgB008v3J-NvoAbwydL54j9vWLRTESdy-OU1TD6wsQnebv2q70DPc3EKNThi0mDXqjVq-6qQo9wg/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="275" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What's Up Egypt?</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></div><br /><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Fun, Education, Stop Motion Animation</em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> was a project from Macedonia. They made stop motion animated movies for primary aged children about all kinds of subjects, using MovieMaker.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghJLyVLFvpggUzxC_jtsJXltYGmKonpdeGSjh87OU2Ef_CiclKmRPZ57fdlVSvRP8t-u2lpoIYVoCT-W0d9lBtSpsDAc9oAsGZ5_63NigmAfGCtn1RWh7605Lt4p2tkRvqNB_9wXfcd4c/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="310" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fun, Education, Stop Motion</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></div><br /><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Creating Fairytale Radioplays</em><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> was a project where teams of students drew scenes from a fairy tale, imported them into Movie maker, added narration and subtitles, plus background music and sound effects. The students wrote their own music and recorded it for the movie. Dr. Froehlich had headsets available so you could watch and listen to the radioplay.” (Julie)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQuSMhAC-PC1E2aDVxtPBVkKpPLN0JH_HXtMah0xhXzqcpxlEIVKMZTsLz_RvvSjZVUOwzA8M8hG13I5AbgU2OCDrarXGFDPO8Qa6iMAsFjXhuWZvBBOEiaLSflY9eY4mKZCBz9Kia5xQ/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="312" /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In <a href="http://www.pil-network.com/Resources/LearningActivities/Details/23e85f7d-5397-45e1-b09a-83a4e81bc465">Flip the Flipped classroom</a> Bram Faens from Belgium’s students solved maths and language problems by creating stop animation videos.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBeBR4CXyN7iurY7qaBBnaKL-R5A6Qk3UMFFueyJX4p5RiQpgj7zQpjq13UqmFwqf-PE1WMwvadLeXY4LJqw_9WbkMqx7zsTQ0ri5R648Ha5SUbQAq597-D0xuDduXvz5ssb-UH1Zg_jc/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin: 0px auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="316" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flip the Flipped Classroom</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></div><br /><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Winners at the Global Forum</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“The highlight of the last day of the Global Forum was a reception in Rothmayer Hall, followed by a gala dinner and awards ceremony in the Spanish Hall at the Prague Castle…Each country sat together at huge rounds tables underneath the most magnificent chandeliers and stucco decorations I have ever scene. All of us were in awe of the surroundings.”</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheFonvYq9ypDHI7tgZqf81VPfg9ELXlrQ5FR_yxEooCo4x_VTWGa8BC1PNEC9aEbH1bFKaNsOruCf1K7XiQfamqLdYpi5jnHw9js1v2Th8AQXwkb8hz-T9kuEf4qTzYJ_bDkOA9UAnMoo/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Before long, it was time for the awards ceremony. I have never been to the Olympics, but I think this event closely matched what it must be like at the awards ceremony. As teachers from different nations proudly wore their flags and came to the front for their awards, the rest of the room clapped and screamed in support.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJZyywNZC1Phuw3J_S5M2iomQXOFSdS2sghQ3fCtnhAxLQgg0Vzl2jnhI5FbGVS4_Sf439K-zG6zU38nXrrTiQe5NCiX_FaKzUYzU9AhF0OLpa-1lyGE1quDprxHIoURnBF3drwWln3S0/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="260" /></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“It didn’t matter where we were from -where were all part of the “teacher family”. Twenty-one teachers went home with an award recognizing their innovative use of technology in the classroom.” (Julie Hembree)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="image" border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTwuoXgXRwNlsmgZXoSr3tiMBN244VpeBdJlYZZtXYwBzewJ9bqVaUUldb_MUG0NpR-RwVeBUSVMCgT9gg7jEEKKk1lR_kphdrm5ioHIPuvHV_9qujJomoI9CnbDUqwexXiaHCXgGWGLg/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="image" width="400" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">21 winners in total</td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></span></div><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I love Julie’s conclusion – it truly sums up what happens to a teacher who participates in this Partners in Learning competition and attends the Global Forum, “<i>How I teach and why I teach will be forever changed by what I learned from the other teachers at the forum</i>.”</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Take a quick look at the final Ceremony in Prague (1’48”)</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/QkIYxKPrN5E?list=UU6B1qXaCAUcoR_ooSuAs5Rg" width="420"></iframe></span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><br /></strong></span><strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Make a start by joining the Partners in Learning Network</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where should you start? Definitely the first place is to start is by joining the PIL network (as we refer to it)! Microsoft's Partners-in-Learning wing has an incredible network that is free to teachers and schools to join - the </span><a href="http://www.pil-network.com/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Partners in Learning Network</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Among a multitude of other very useful resources for teachers there are thousands of projects, including all of the projects from the Global, US and other country/regional forums there for you to see should you want to see what teachers are up to in different parts of the world. You’ll notice that I have hyperlinked the projects mentioned in this post to their PIL network descriptions.  </span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Take a risk this year…and enter the competition!</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you want to get involved from South Africa this year and are looking for support and information please contact Megan (at) schoolnet.org.za. Want to change your life forever? To make change involves taking risks – why not take that risk this year and enter a project!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span> <strong><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Further reading on the global event at Prague</span></strong><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cheryl Arnott </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/cheryl-arnett/the-time-is-now_1_b_2241030.html?utm_hp_ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false#sb=1283482,b=facebook" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The time is now</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> in The Huffington Post</span><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Alice Leung: </span><a href="http://aliceleung.net/2012/12/05/the-ipony-an-analogy-in-leading-others-to-adopting-innovative-practices/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The iPony, an analogy in leading others to adopting innovative practices</a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pauline Roberts </span><a href="http://notjustateacher-pr05bps.blogspot.de/2012/12/unpacking-prague.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unpcking Prague</a><br /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bram Faens: </span><a href="http://www.leesvoer.be/en/geen-categorie/partners-in-learning-global-forum-you-moved-me-2/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Partners in Learning Forum you moved me</a><br /><br /></div>

Microsoft Teachers, ever wondered what takes place at Microsoft’s Partners in Learning Global Forum?

Submitted by Fiona Beal with excerpts from the amazing blog Bulldog Readers belonging to Julie Hembree of Seattle, a Global Forum finalist ...

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