Several weeks ago, I applied to go to the Apple Distinguished Educator’s Global Institute in Cork, Ireland. Why did I do it? Same reason I applied for the ADE in the first place. I wanted to see if I could do it. I have written about my reservations and thoughts about corporate sponsored educational programs, and I know it is a heated debated online. Everyone has their own opinion about the merits of being “selected” by a huge corporation to do anything, much less educate kids. At the risk of hurting my street cred, although I am a bit embarrassed to say- I was pretty excited and proud to wake up to this email:

I am not vain or stupid (maybe I am a bit of both) enough to think that my acceptance is anything more than a chance to get some great PD and hang out with some pretty amazing educators. Ones I already know here in Asia, but more importantly, it is a great chance to meet some new Tweeps out there and expand my network with some face-to-face expereinces.

The best part is that I applied with a total “nothing to lose” attitude and it worked. See for yourself:

What have I been up to since my “branding” in Ho Chi Minh City last year at my ADE induction? That is the question right? What have I been doing to show that I am an Advocate, Advisor,  Author, and Ambassador? What content have I authored online for others to learn from my expertise? Have I presented at local, regional or national educational events to share my school’s successes and promote ideas for improving education? You bet I have. Excuse my unorthodox voice, but I think that my passionate yet casual tone best illustrates my style and strengths.

I see myself as an emerging leader in the field of educational technology, but not in the sense that I am a traveling consultant disconnected from the front lines. No, my fires are lit in classrooms and schools, with students and teachers. I am in the business of igniting imaginations by showing what Apple technologies allow people to do. Sit back and let me take you for a ride…

As the new IT coach at my school in Jakarta, I have been instrumental in writing our vision statement as well as designing the proper steps to implement this vision into school wide, systematic, day-to-day action. We have designed- eHub: a new style of online environment where students and teachers use WordPress Blogs and Google Educational Applications to create, communicate, collaborate and connect as a learning community.

I have designed and taught a course called DC101 to help teachers make the shift to new 21st century realities. This six week course is an introduction to Digital Citizenship as well as basic digital storytelling concepts. We explore iLife software to help teachers find better ways to share the stories of their classrooms on our new blogs. This experience has been invaluable for me in terms of being an effective ambassador and teacher leader. We are also in the process of creating an Apple Regional Training Center, where we will have weekend workshops for our staff as well as other teachers in the area.

I have been active beyond our school walls. I was asked to be a cohort leader at the regional tech conference- Learning 2.011. Beyond leading the English cohort and leading several workshops on Design (Keynote) and network building, I presented a keynote presentation. I am currently on the planning committee for next year’s conference, working closely with several other regional ADEs to make 2012 the best conference yet. Furthermore, I presented at a local IB conference on the subject of Digital Storytelling and will be presenting at the 21Century Learning Conference in Hong Kong this February.
All of this is in addition to the cutting edge work I have been doing in my English classroom. I have Skyped in photographers/bloggers to help us understand the culture of Afghanistan, created collaborative digital stories, as well as guided students to learn to be confident online content creators and bloggers.

I hope that my ADE journals are up to date enough. I am not sure if a series of links like the ones I have added above are enough to give you a clear indication of who I am as a teacher, artist and technology enthusiast, but I hope you can see that I lead by example, that my passion is infectious and I love working with people, young and old. Don’t take my word for it. Google Jabiz Raisdana and follow the leads…see where you end up. I think you would agree I would be a valuable asset at Cork this summer.

My one minute video:

Even as I post this, I am asking myself why? Is it all just an exercise in ego? Maybe, maybe not. Isn’t all professionalism, interviewing, resumes, recruiting, branding all just a game we play to prove to others that we matter? Whatever the case, the game seems to be working for me at this time, so I will keep playing. I am just excited that I have reached a place in my career that I can say something like this, “Google Jabiz Raisdana and follow the leads…see where you end up.” and be confident that it is all good. So often we scare students into posting online, and how future employers and schools might crucify them for taking a picture with a beer can in the frame, but what I am here to say is that it can work in your advantage as well. If you carefully build your “brand” life story, portfolio, whatever you want to call it, then you can apply for things and dare people to just google you and know that what they find is who you are and what you do.

The important thing, however, the thing that I always keep in mind, is to keep the work as the most important part of what I do. Nothing matters, unless we can back up what we say with the effect our work has on kids, day in and day out in our classrooms.

So if you are going to Cork, drop me a line and let’s get the conversations going early.