A Post 2 Years in the Making
*I first wrote these thoughts after attending Educon 2.7 in 2015. I love reflecting on my thoughts and seeing where things are actually shifting! It’s amazing how thoughts come back around and are solidified through conversation and learning. The last few sentences have different color text of what I’m seeing today.
Culture Shift-How do we make it happen?
Friday at Educon 2.7 was a great day. I arrived at Science Leadership Academy, checked my coat and bags and proceeded to explore the school. It amazes me how they do school there. Is it just staged for us as Educon attendees or is this real life everyday for these students and teachers? Students engaged in learning in all classrooms, teachers brilliantly bring the real world to high school. A highlight for me was visiting Marci Hull’s tech class where they were discussing privacy issues. Marci was reading from a book with real life stories about digital boundaries that were broken and having them connect to their lives. Transparent conversation from the students ensued. You can see and feel the culture of learning in conversations, classrooms and walls. *This culture of learning is still going strong and noticeable at SLA
So how do I bring that to my suburb district? I have been working hard for 8 years to change the culture of my building. I’d say we are partially there, but much more work to be done. *The work is happening. Over the past year and a half, I have seen teachers go out of their comfort zone and try new things. Shifts are taking place in both our physical and digital learning environments.
What can we do to be more relevant and prevalent in schools?
How can we reach out to classroom teachers to help them be more comfortable with integration?
We all see the deficiencies. From neighboring teachers, coaches, to administrators.. change is not happening, there is reluctance to change teaching habits, excuses as to why integration cannot happen. What can we do as an organization to help fill some of these deficiencies? *Baby steps and patience. Finding one or two people who are ready is a key to moving forward with new thoughts and habits.
There are companies that do PD to sell their product. What if we did PL to sell an idea or a culture shift in a grade level, school, admin, district? *Working on this. I really want to see teachers doing the same work in their professional learning as we want our students working in their student learning, open to new ideas and how to do Professional Learning vs. Professional Development. Stop doing to our learners and start setting up opportunities for learners.