Monthly Archives: January 2012

Highlights of #edcampdelta

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So, this was our second Edcamp, the first being Edcamp Fraser Valley in December. Thank you to everyone who participated, first-timers especially, having new voices in the mix is what keeps it fresh! It was also great to see familiar faces again and continue some past conversations. If only edcamp43 hadn’t been on the same day!

We attended sessions entitled “How can we boost buy in and innovation with faculty and staff?”, “What Must Stay and What Must Go in Education?”, “Rigour and High Expectations in the 21st Entury Classroom” and “Integrating and Assessing the 7 Cs of 21st Century Learning” Notes from these and all the other sessions are available here so I won’t comment too much more, but let you read them yourselves.

My strongest takeaways immediately were:

Buy-in is all about creating a safe, friendly space into which you can invite people.
Uptake is faster if people (teachers) feel safe to take risks and make mistakes.
Innovation should come from changes made in response to a learning issue.
Rigour applies to the learning process, not a product.
21st Century skills are what make academic learning useful.
If we want 7Cs (communication, collaboration, etc) to be given time, weight we need to be able to discuss, assess, give feedback, measure them.
Increase dialogue between secondary and post secondary. How can we broaden the scope of info (other than just %) that HS provides for Univ. admissions so that HS teachers, students do not feel their main driver is final Grade 12 letter grade?
Deeper thinking is always multi-disciplinary.
Elementary school is not only highschool prep., HS is not only Univ. prep. learning needs to be about NOW.
Learning is always about relationships.

The great thing is that the conversations will continue on twitter, through blogs and hopefully, most importantly, in our schools’ classrooms and staffrooms. As we integrate these ideas we will continue to reflect on our conversations and practices and insights will continue to develop.
Last thoughts:

  • Invite at least one colleague to join twitter
  • Show someone how to set up a blog page
  • Invite someone else at your school into your classroom to share ideas

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Squashed learning opportunity

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I was disheartened and quite frankly appalled to hear about a great learning opportunity that was squashed by the principal of my daughter’s school recently at lunchtime.

The kids were outside making paper boats to float in the big puddles created by the recent rainstorm and the principal came along and told them that they shouldn’t be playing in puddles and to clean up the mess they were making.

WOW! What a completely inappropriate reaction to a truly wonderful opportunity. The kids were actually learning about math, engineering, physics, you name it and having fun while they were doing it.

Think of all the things she could have said to scaffold the learning for those kids. “That looks like a lot of fun. Have you tried different designs?” “What happens if you put a rock in your boat?” “Do you want to try using different kinds of paper?” “How did you learn how to make boats?” “Does it make a difference if you make big boats or small boats?” “Where did you learn to sail like that?” “Would you be interested in teaching your class how to make boats?”

Instead, the kids were reprimanded and the learning opportunity was lost. Even worse, they may never try it again.

For all the talk we hear about personalized learning, engagement, and real life opportunities for developing skills, I wonder if people actually know how to walk the talk.

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