Teachers' Convention: Day 1

 

In my 8 years of teaching, I've been able to attend a number of Teachers' Conventions... each one filled with a variety of different sessions leaving me feeling anywhere from extremely bored to ecstatic and energized.  Understand that I'm not questioning the need for Teachers' Convention and the need for it in my own professional development.  I inevitably hope each year, though, that I can have more of the kinds of experiences that not only build me up but give me tangible steps for achieving relevant and realistic change within my classroom.

Today I had the opportunity to attend a keynote by George Couros, someone that I have previously followed on Twitter but hadn't really looked into all that much beyond knowing that he has been a big advocate for using technology to expand learning and innovation within the classroom.  Without going into too many specifics, his presentation focused a lot of how educators need to embrace a growth mindset, focus on building resiliency, and build meaningful relationships with students through empathy and trust.  On the whole, it was one of the better presentations that I've been to over the many Teachers' Conventions that I have attended.  While I can't say that I agree with absolutely everything that was shared, I had a lot of moments while listening where I was asking myself questions about how I could do things just a little bit differently.

First off, I can't really disagree with the desire presented that sees technology as a way to empower kids.  I love using it myself because of what it allows me to do and the connections that I can make with a much larger community.  For many students, the power given to them through a smartphone, ChromeBook, and the Internet as a whole is incredible.  My earliest exposure to the Internet mainly involved playing Warcraft II and tying up the family phone line (much to the dismay of my parents) or taking 15 to 20 minutes to download songs on Napster.  Times have changed more than somewhat.

In discussing the presentation with some colleagues, we were pretty much on the same page in terms of recognizing these benefits.  However, we weren't as universally optimistic about the prospect of having unrestricted access to technology.  We were shown examples of schools where there aren't restrictions on device usage and told of the advantages of trusting our students to do what they should be doing.  I love the enthusiasm... but I'm still struggling with how to reconcile these good intentions with my own overly practical observations.  

Take cell phone usage as one example.  The message from the presentation was that we aren't doing anyone any favours by having penalties for using cell phones and technology.  Right off the bat, we were told, this creates a feeling of distrust: we can't possibly have our students govern their own use of cell phones so we need to do it for them.  In a perfect world, I'd love to be able to trust that each of my students can stay on-task and pursue their own learning and complete their work.  However, what I usually see when many students have that kind of freedom is that they will use that to do something else like play Agar.io or some other game, send a few texts or Snapchats, or something else that doesn't necessarily have a whole lot to do with the task at hand.

Naturally, this gets me thinking about what it is that I'm asking them to do.  There was one key question that Mr. Couros shared with the audience that really stuck with me: Are students creating content in spite of or because of school?  I'm not going to lie and say that every single lesson and activity that I have in my classroom is fun and engaging and all too often I feel like I really have to push the content that needs to be taught as prescribed by the Program of Studies.  However, we were also challenged to give students the chance to make connections for themselves if we're going to establish something more relevant for them.

It's still tough for me to process all my thinking and reflection at this point.  I have concerns, yes, but at the end of the day I'm probably asking the kinds of questions that need to be asked if I'm to grow and develop professionally.  You'll likely read more about this as I can do a better job organizing my thoughts into some sort of plan.

Another One of Those Super Good Commercials

I started watching the newest season of Survivor after a few years of a break.  During one commercial break, they showed this ad and I just thought it was awesome.  

I'm going to let it speak for itself.

There's a pretty powerful and simple message here that can be applied into more than just your phone's operating system (Android is better, by the way...).  I'm excited to show this to my students and see what they think about it.

There's also a behind-the-scenes video that I quite liked, having played piano and being involved in music for most of my life.  That a piano had to be made from scratch in order to meet the demands of the ad was pretty impressive.

 

Other Thoughts from Teachers' Convention

Here are a few other thoughts that stood out to me after attending a session on using blogging to create a digital portfolio.

• linking blog entries to the Teaching Quality Standard; making some connection to what we are expected to do as professionals
• Blogging is about making connections... students can and should be encouraged to link blog content to their different course outcomes
• The process involves 4 steps: Write, Categorize, Tag, and Publish
• This is a process that is continually evolving and can be something that students and staff do over years
• I need to look a bit more into wordpress and Edublogs for next year and see if those can't be used more effectively than what I'm doing here in Blogger
• I don't use Twitter as much as I should in part because it can be a bit overwhelming to sift through all the information... I really, really like Tweetdeck now

More to come...

~Mr.T