This week, I had the delightful experience of working with students and teachers at two Melbourne schools that are very meaningful to me. Last Monday 20th February, I visited Carey Baptist Grammar School and on Tuesday I ran some sessions at Strathcona Baptist Girls Grammar School.

My connection with Carey goes way back to its origins in 1923 when my Grandfather Charles Ridley Kitchen was a foundation scholar. My father, Paul Kitchen also studied at Carey as did my uncle Tim Costello. I went there as a student from 1979 (the year girls started at Carey) to 1986 and I later worked as a primary teacher at the Carey Junior School from 1996 to June 2000. Both of my sisters went to Carey for some part of the education and I currently have a niece there in Year 10.

Strathcona has been a significant part of my professional life as an educator since I began teaching there in July 2000 as an IT Teacher and the school’s ‘Web Master’. I worked at Strathcona for 13 years under the leadership of Mrs Helen Hughes who helped me develop my skills as a leader and an educator. I was the Year 10 Coordinator for five years and finished my time as their Director of Learning Technologies before starting my current role with Adobe.

At Carey, I spent much of the day at their maker space called the Sandpit which is a great feature of their new Centre for Learning and Innovation.

I had the pleasure of working with a number of Carey staff and students, showing them a wide range of Adobe applications to help them enhance their creative communication skills.

I’d like to thank Kylie Taig, Carey’s Head of innovation and Learning Design (K-12), for organising the day and I’m looking forward to supporting her and the school in the future.

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On Tuesday 21st February, I spent most of the day with a range of students and teachers at Strathcona where we worked on some Photoshop and Adobe Spark techniques.

The Year 10 Web Design class appreciated learning how to use Adobe Photoshop to compress large image files and optimise them for online use.

Another class of Year 10 students learned how to use Adobe Spark Post, Spake Video & Spark Page to produce creative digital posters, videos and web pages to help construct their learning.

I’d like to thank Ross Phillips, Strathcona’s Dean of Studies, for organising these sessions.