On Saturday, March 5 I had the pleasure to attend TEDxNYED, and I have had several people say to me, "I can't wait to hear what you've learned this weekend!" As I sit here reflecting upon the presentations I heard and trying to write this post, I have to say I'm not sure that I learned anything new in terms of the "stuff" most classroom teachers might expect: ideas, handouts, websites, and the like. Rather than getting "stuff" I got 15 individuals' take on what education needs to look like for our kids to be successful in the future; they all shared their 15 minutes to change the world.
So what DID I get from my day on Saturday?
I got affirmation. I may be "just a teacher" (Brian Crosby and I had a conversation about this, and I think it will need to be my next blog post), but I am thinking about the same ideas and feeling the same feelings that are being presented by this amazing group of speakers. And I am the one who has the power to do something with my students in the classroom.
I learned about relationships. As I'm sitting here typing this I watched a short piece on the local news about how technology is negatively impacting face to face interactions. But on Saturday I heard many, many examples of how technology does not dehumanize. Instead it allows students to create caring, collborative relationships with others around the world. Hopefully this connected generation will be the one that can look past home-grown stereotypes, develop meaningful relationships, and leave a legacy that will make a positive impact on the world.
Check these talks when they are posted: Alan November, Homa Tavagar, Lucy Gray, John Ellrodt & Maria Fico, and Brian Crosby
I got a first hand look at the power of kids. Our system continues to perpetuate the notion that adults have the knowledge, and kids need to get it from us. This is just not the case any more. The kids can get their knowledge whenever and where ever they want to so schools need to be about something else. On Saturday I got reaffirmation that there is value in every single student, all students can capitalize on their strengths, and we need to help the kids recognize that they have a voice and can make a difference.
Check these talks when they are posted: John Ellrodt & Maria Fico, Kiran Bir Sethi (a TED talk), Diana Laufenberg (a TEDxMidatlantic talk), and Dennis Littky
I developed some realization. I now understand that we need to stop talking to each other, and we need to start talking to people outside of education. We need to get the message out that our students are more than just numbers on a test. Diana Laufenberg talked about this after we walked her talk, and a member of my PLN who was not in New York talked about it yesterday here in his blog. It is up to us: the teachers, the students and the administrators to stand up and help ourselves because nobody is going to do it for us.
Check these talks when they are posted: Diana Laufenberg (a TEDxMidatlantic talk) and Morley (you can also find her on iTunes!)
I gained understanding. This is not about tweaking what we are already doing; instead it is about doing something totally different. I hate to be cliche, but beating the dead horse is not going to make it work harder. It's just going to keep it dead. Innovation does not mean letting kids use computers to take their multiple choice tests; it means doing things in a whole new way. We're at the point now where we can't reform what we're doing. We need a whole new system to prepare our kids for their lives.
Check these talks when they are posted: Gary Stager, Heidi Hayes Jacobs, and Will Richardson
There were several other wonderful speakers, and I recommend that when the presentations are posted you take some time to watch each of them. As a teacher you may not get concrete activities that you can use in your classroom, but I guarantee that you will gain so much more.
Showing posts with label TEDxNYED. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TEDxNYED. Show all posts
Monday, March 7, 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Powerful
And I'm not even talking about TEDxNY yet. Don't worry, that post is coming. There's something else I need to talk about first.
I was terrified to go to New York City by myself, so much so that even with all the money for the tickets and reservations I almost didn't go. But I knew I would kick myself if I didn't so I put on my big girl panties, hopped on the train, and headed towards the big city. Thanks to my dear friend's sister I had a hotel that was extremely close to the conference site so once I got to my hotel Friday night I knew I would be okay. After a slightly nerve-wracking subway excursion, I climbed the steps right in front of my hotel and the World Trade Center memorial site.
Even though I had read the information about the hotel, the magnitude of where I was didn't really become meaningful until this morning. I got up, opened the curtains and looked out over the construction site where the Twin Towers used to stand. And that's when it hit me. There used to be two towers right here that were over 100 stories high. One day in the not so distant past somebody had stayed in this hotel, and as they were getting ready for that morning (just like I was today) a plane had hit the building right across the street. Thousands of people had lost their lives. The enormity of these thoughts took my breath away.
Several people commented to me that it was a shame that I wasn't staying long enough to do any sight-seeing, see a show or eat at any of the fancy restaurants in the city. What I gained this morning was so much more meaningful than any of that. While I can't accurately express what I thought and felt as I looked out over the memorial site and reflected upon the events of September 11, I do know that I am very lucky to have had the chance to, in my own little way, pay respect to those who lost their lives that day.
The fact that I also got to attend a pretty incredible conference is just the icing on the cake.
I was terrified to go to New York City by myself, so much so that even with all the money for the tickets and reservations I almost didn't go. But I knew I would kick myself if I didn't so I put on my big girl panties, hopped on the train, and headed towards the big city. Thanks to my dear friend's sister I had a hotel that was extremely close to the conference site so once I got to my hotel Friday night I knew I would be okay. After a slightly nerve-wracking subway excursion, I climbed the steps right in front of my hotel and the World Trade Center memorial site.
Even though I had read the information about the hotel, the magnitude of where I was didn't really become meaningful until this morning. I got up, opened the curtains and looked out over the construction site where the Twin Towers used to stand. And that's when it hit me. There used to be two towers right here that were over 100 stories high. One day in the not so distant past somebody had stayed in this hotel, and as they were getting ready for that morning (just like I was today) a plane had hit the building right across the street. Thousands of people had lost their lives. The enormity of these thoughts took my breath away.
Several people commented to me that it was a shame that I wasn't staying long enough to do any sight-seeing, see a show or eat at any of the fancy restaurants in the city. What I gained this morning was so much more meaningful than any of that. While I can't accurately express what I thought and felt as I looked out over the memorial site and reflected upon the events of September 11, I do know that I am very lucky to have had the chance to, in my own little way, pay respect to those who lost their lives that day.
The fact that I also got to attend a pretty incredible conference is just the icing on the cake.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
A Month In A Nutshell
To be quite honest, I'm not even sure what happened to the month of February. So many things have happened that my head is spinning. Here's what I've learned in these last few weeks:
- Having a student teacher is very hard, very rewarding work. If you're thinking that you should mentor a student teacher just so you have some time to get caught up, get ahead or have a little free time, please don't do it. You'll be doing a disservice to your student teacher and your students.
- Young people today are not given nearly enough credit. I posted about THON in my last post, and last weekend I spent 46 hours with some of the most amazing college students you might ever meet. Please take some time to visit their sites and see what it looks like when 15,000 college students come together FTK (For The Kids) and raise $9.56 million! I am honored to have been a guest of a Four Diamonds Family, humbled to be part of this amazing weekend, and motivated to do more for all kids who suffer from this horrible disease.
- We all need to make sure we communicate openly and honestly with the people we love, are friends with and work with. When you don't understand what's going on in a situation because there's been limited communication just one small sentence can be devastating. Even when you find out that things aren't as bad as you thought the miscommunication leaves lasting effects.
- If your student or child ever says or writes ANYTHING that raises even the slightest little red flag in your mind, tell somebody. Tell your principal, tell your guidance counselor, tell anybody so they can check into it and get that child the help that he or she needs.
- Sometimes we teach our kids really silly things in the name of "fidelity" and "consistency". When I feel like something is .... is worthless the word I really want here???... presented in a way that is not meaningful to my students I need to be confident enough to change things up to make it meaningful to my kids.
- Even if it doesn't perfectly fit into my curriculum (as I was told by some people), just talking with another class over Skype is a wonderful way to help my students practice their listening and speaking skills. It was very eye opening to see how much work they need in those areas!
- Giving kids the opportunity to be self-directed in their learning is scary, hard, exciting and uplifting all at the same time.
- I love that I was welcomed into a colleague's classroom yesterday to learn more about Edmodo! I've seen many people tweet about it, but I hadn't had the opportunity to research it myself. It was also pretty powerful to hear how her message about social media and to see how confident my students were in the tech lab. It was also exciting to talk with her about how we both might use it in our classes.
- As part of our PLP group we have been working very hard to begin developing professional development for the rest of our faculty. It was very rewarding to hear that our teams' thoughts were on track with what the rest of the faculty believes are our technology needs, and I'm very motivated to provide a lot of meaningful opportunities for our teachers.
- It's so frustrating that so much of my life as a teacher and what I do in my classroom is controlled by people who have not stepped in schools since they were 18 and by people who think they can do whatever they want with no repercussions. But I need to keep focused on the kids because that is what remains the same every, single, day - it's always about the kids.
- It's funny how confident I am in many situations and how completely chicken I am in others. I almost didn't book the hotel for TEDxNY, but I didn't let myself chicken out. I know I'll be thankful to be there next Saturday at this time. Right now, I'm still feeling a little ill when I think about trying to find my way around NYC all by myself!
So, that is February in a nutshell - quite a lot for the shortest month of the year. What did you learn in February?
- Having a student teacher is very hard, very rewarding work. If you're thinking that you should mentor a student teacher just so you have some time to get caught up, get ahead or have a little free time, please don't do it. You'll be doing a disservice to your student teacher and your students.
- Young people today are not given nearly enough credit. I posted about THON in my last post, and last weekend I spent 46 hours with some of the most amazing college students you might ever meet. Please take some time to visit their sites and see what it looks like when 15,000 college students come together FTK (For The Kids) and raise $9.56 million! I am honored to have been a guest of a Four Diamonds Family, humbled to be part of this amazing weekend, and motivated to do more for all kids who suffer from this horrible disease.
- We all need to make sure we communicate openly and honestly with the people we love, are friends with and work with. When you don't understand what's going on in a situation because there's been limited communication just one small sentence can be devastating. Even when you find out that things aren't as bad as you thought the miscommunication leaves lasting effects.
- If your student or child ever says or writes ANYTHING that raises even the slightest little red flag in your mind, tell somebody. Tell your principal, tell your guidance counselor, tell anybody so they can check into it and get that child the help that he or she needs.
- Sometimes we teach our kids really silly things in the name of "fidelity" and "consistency". When I feel like something is .... is worthless the word I really want here???... presented in a way that is not meaningful to my students I need to be confident enough to change things up to make it meaningful to my kids.
- Even if it doesn't perfectly fit into my curriculum (as I was told by some people), just talking with another class over Skype is a wonderful way to help my students practice their listening and speaking skills. It was very eye opening to see how much work they need in those areas!
- Giving kids the opportunity to be self-directed in their learning is scary, hard, exciting and uplifting all at the same time.
- I love that I was welcomed into a colleague's classroom yesterday to learn more about Edmodo! I've seen many people tweet about it, but I hadn't had the opportunity to research it myself. It was also pretty powerful to hear how her message about social media and to see how confident my students were in the tech lab. It was also exciting to talk with her about how we both might use it in our classes.
- As part of our PLP group we have been working very hard to begin developing professional development for the rest of our faculty. It was very rewarding to hear that our teams' thoughts were on track with what the rest of the faculty believes are our technology needs, and I'm very motivated to provide a lot of meaningful opportunities for our teachers.
- It's so frustrating that so much of my life as a teacher and what I do in my classroom is controlled by people who have not stepped in schools since they were 18 and by people who think they can do whatever they want with no repercussions. But I need to keep focused on the kids because that is what remains the same every, single, day - it's always about the kids.
- It's funny how confident I am in many situations and how completely chicken I am in others. I almost didn't book the hotel for TEDxNY, but I didn't let myself chicken out. I know I'll be thankful to be there next Saturday at this time. Right now, I'm still feeling a little ill when I think about trying to find my way around NYC all by myself!
So, that is February in a nutshell - quite a lot for the shortest month of the year. What did you learn in February?
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Opportunities Abound
When I read a post on the PLP blog and picked Opportunity for my word of the year I didn't have any idea what an impact it would have on me. Just two days into the new year I knew I picked the right word, and one month later things have not changed.
Yesterday I had to opportunity to represent the faculty of our new building by serving on a panel to interview the principal candidates. While I've had the opportunity to participate in interviews as part of my internship program, I was quite honored to be selected. It was interesting to hear all of the candidates speak and exciting to be able to give my input. I'm excited to see which candidate(s) will move on in the process, and I look forward to working with any of them to create an amazing new community of learners.
This past weekend I had the opportunity to reflect upon my students' learning throughout the second marking period. I was excited to see how their writing had improved and to see the growth many kids made towards our reading benchmarks, but at the same time I am not happy with the assessments I used for my content areas. I continue to reflect upon what I can do differently to make this learning more purposeful. It shouldn't just be about regurgitating facts for a test or quiz. How do I balance my beliefs with a need to "get 4 grades per marking period" for our progress reports? Here is my opportunity to learn and grow during the third marking period.
The weather has provided me the opportunity to get caught up on all of the housework that I skipped this weekend while working on progress reports, but I've been a little distracted from that task. That's because another opportunity popped up in my inbox this morning. This email's subject line was "See you at TEDxNYED!" I'm honored, humbled and excited to have been accepted to attend TEDxNYED. There are several people from my PLN who will be attending so I am very excited to meet with them in person. I'll admit, though, that I am also completely and utterly terrified about this opportunity. I am probably the farthest thing from a city girl you will ever find so the thought of going into the city, navigating around the city, and getting back to my train has me about sick to my stomach. But that's the thing about opportunities: the good ones always help you learn something. Sometimes that something is WAY outside your comfort zone, like navigating NYC will be way out of mine, but what I will take away from attending more than makes up for the fear I'm feeling about the trip.
So January ends and February begins the same way the new year rang in, with opportunities to learn and grow everywhere.
Yesterday I had to opportunity to represent the faculty of our new building by serving on a panel to interview the principal candidates. While I've had the opportunity to participate in interviews as part of my internship program, I was quite honored to be selected. It was interesting to hear all of the candidates speak and exciting to be able to give my input. I'm excited to see which candidate(s) will move on in the process, and I look forward to working with any of them to create an amazing new community of learners.
This past weekend I had the opportunity to reflect upon my students' learning throughout the second marking period. I was excited to see how their writing had improved and to see the growth many kids made towards our reading benchmarks, but at the same time I am not happy with the assessments I used for my content areas. I continue to reflect upon what I can do differently to make this learning more purposeful. It shouldn't just be about regurgitating facts for a test or quiz. How do I balance my beliefs with a need to "get 4 grades per marking period" for our progress reports? Here is my opportunity to learn and grow during the third marking period.
The weather has provided me the opportunity to get caught up on all of the housework that I skipped this weekend while working on progress reports, but I've been a little distracted from that task. That's because another opportunity popped up in my inbox this morning. This email's subject line was "See you at TEDxNYED!" I'm honored, humbled and excited to have been accepted to attend TEDxNYED. There are several people from my PLN who will be attending so I am very excited to meet with them in person. I'll admit, though, that I am also completely and utterly terrified about this opportunity. I am probably the farthest thing from a city girl you will ever find so the thought of going into the city, navigating around the city, and getting back to my train has me about sick to my stomach. But that's the thing about opportunities: the good ones always help you learn something. Sometimes that something is WAY outside your comfort zone, like navigating NYC will be way out of mine, but what I will take away from attending more than makes up for the fear I'm feeling about the trip.
So January ends and February begins the same way the new year rang in, with opportunities to learn and grow everywhere.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)