Come on in, the community's great.

What does COMMUNITY mean to you?

• Belonging
• Acceptance
• Respect
• Feeling welcome
• Supporting each other 
• Sharing stories and wisdom
• Working together

(Above: My favourite New Zealand Maori quote)

Are you a part of a community (Canvas, work, or neighbourhood)? What brought you there, or how did you initially get connected?

I've been fortunate to belong to a few communities. Some more effective and healthy than others.

• As a young mum belonging to parenting support groups helped create little villages to raise our children. I learned so much, then felt strong enough to support others. Telling our stories helped so much.
• As a teacher belonging to learning communities centered around specific curriculum areas or topics of focus helped me to learn from others then, in time, to nurture the learning in others. Again, sharing our stories of what works, what doesn't, and a few laughs helped also.
• Teaching in New Zealand had an extra sparkly community with the Maori Community who so desperately wanted to share their culture and language. So many magic memories were made singing, telling stories, learning, learning, learning. This helped me to learn more about acceptance and respect. 
• Teaching in Tasmania has introduced me to the Tasmanian Aboriginal community. They are striving to show us how to make connections with the land and each other. I am new to this community but feel as though it's home and am looking forward to what I will learn alongside these wonderful people. 
• My Blended Learning Team have become a tight knit group where we explore and create together. Then spreading our reach a little further are the great people in Curriculum Services and the amazing teachers in our schools.  
• From day one the Canvas Community has been like coming home. First of all I was welcomed by people across the planet. Then others happily shared their stories, problem solved, told jokes, asked questions and before I knew it our little planet had become 'traversable' without getting on a plane.
• THEN the APAC group became a mini community where teaching with a similar curriculum and in the same part of the Pacific gave us some common ground to make connections and even meet in person. 

We’ll see this particular Canvas community grow at CanvasCon Sydney on 13th August 2019 at the International Convention Centre. I’ll be one of the presenters that day and have found it’s one of the best ways to share best practices of teaching with technology. My co-presenter is Craig Nicholls, who I met in the Community but have never met in person!

This community has value for me because it's a way for me to say thank you for the genuine welcome, support, encouragement and wisdom I receive daily from so many of you.

It's a way to say to others - Belonging to these communities has helped make me - Me. 

Keep learning,

Bobby Pedersen
Principal Education Officer, Tasmania Department of Education