Ed Camp Vancouver

Today was a most interesting day of most amazing professional development.  The day was presented as an unconference, no key note speaker, nothing lavish, just a bunch of dedicated people who are passionate about education.  It was representative of most stakeholders: parents, teachers, principals and some students. It is hard to describe the day in a way which accurately would reflect the conversations that were held today.

The beauty of the day was the respect for the knowledge of the group that was there, the fact that everyone had something to offer, something to share, something to reflect on, a question to pose and a desire to learn.  These were not sessions that were being offered by someone looking to pad a resume, someone who had not been in a school in years and was preaching nor was it someone who had already done the same presentation 25 times in the year and did not adapt it to the group present.  These sessions were lead by questions from people within the room. I was looking at the board of potential topics with people putting sticky notes on them to show which ones were of interest.

As we were looking at the board of topics there were other conversations that started and new topics were posted.  As new topics were posted some stickies migrated, others added their stickies to the new topics and 16 topics were chosen for the day.  4 sessions per time slot, 4 different time slots.  There were conversations around assessment for learning, bringing English LA into the 21st century, Social Media 101, moving away from letter grades, engaging all partner groups, moving away from awards ceremonies, creating online communities as well as many other great subjects.  We were there from 9 am to 4 pm, and then some of us went to a pub to continue the conversation afterwards, those who had the long commute home had their continuing conversations in the car, the #edcampvan hashtag continued to be used long after the day was over.  It is now 10 pm and that hashtag is still showing up and being used!  Talk about powerful pro-d!

I took in 4 amazing sessions, each one passed quickly, with conversations continuing long after the session was over.  The discussion were so rich, provocative and reflective. The varying points of view from different districts, levels, stakeholders and experience was so enriching.  I honestly feel that I would have happily attended each session for a day instead of just the 45 minutes sessions (which often continued well after the time elapsed unlike other sessions where people were packing up their bags before presentations were over).  It just felt as though we were just warming up.  To have that many people together is powerful pro-d.  There was so much to listen to, so much to share, so much to think about and so much to bring back to schools.  As I was driving home I started to wonder how we could make our pro-d days much more like this.  Good solid conversations, professional dialogue and getting to the meat and potatoes.  Let's get it all out on the table.

I would have loved to have school boards and Ministry of Education representatives there.  They need to hear our thoughts without the bureaucratic red tape that can exist when meeting with govenment representatives.  Open honest conversations without politics so that they can hear what it is that we are trying to do, hear what our barriers are, understand how it would be better for students and we could hear what their vision is without a podium and a rehearsed speech, what their concerns are, what their barriers are.  If we can truly have all stakeholders represented then we can really begin to make magic happen.

There is much to bring home to our schools and a lot to think about how the day was shaped and how we can use this format.  Is this the future of pro-d?

Technology brings us closer

I have heard on occasion that people fear that we lose our social connections by becoming too dependent on technology.  I guess that there is a certain element of truth to that, but is it not entirely dependent on the context?  I was watching a video Open and Connected and it raised a lot of good points.  I am going to put forward that technology actually brings us closer.

I am a child of immigrants.  My parents tell the story of my grand-father running alongside the train that was to take them on their journey and he ran alongside the train until he could go no further.  Planes were not as available as they are now.  When my parents came to Canada from Europe they came by boat.  My grand-father's fear was that he would rarely ever see his daughter again.  There would be an exchange of letters, but it would take weeks for the letters to arrive.  Phone calls were prohibitive because of the ridiculous costs.  It was not easy.

When I was younger I would see my French grand-parents about every 2nd summer, and that was with them coming here every once in a while.  I would talk to them every once in a while on the phone for a few brief minutes, always aware of the cost.  Birthday phone calls were a treat and I loved my Christmas calls as well.  I looked forward to the occasions when I could talk to them.  Eventually costs for flying came down so we started to see them every summer, alternating visits.

This is where technology comes in.  About 20 years ago my mom bought her parents a fax machine. Letters were transmitted instantly and letters flowed more freely.  It was great because I got news from my grand-parents much more quickly.  Just a little later when my grand-father was around 75 he decided that the old super 8 style movies that he was making just wasn't cutting it anymore and decided that it was time that he learned how to do digital video editing and he bought his first computer, which came, obviously, with email.  I was in touch with my grand-father so much more than ever and I developed a close relationship with him that I never had before.  Even though he lived 9 time zones away I felt as though he was very close.  Technology is what really allowed me to get to know him.  I no longer had to wait for special occasions to hear from him or wait a month to hear back when I wrote a letter.  Skype was just starting to come into prominence when he became ill, but if not I know we would have been having weekly conversations via Skype.

I am now connected via Facebook with 2 of my cousins in France, 1 cousin in New Zealand and another in San Francisco.  One of my aunts jokes around that I know more about her kids than she does because of Facebook.  I get to see regular updates as to how they are doing, see family pictures and stay in contact.  It allows my parents and my brother and sister to share family pictures much more easily than before.  Don't get me wrong, we talk by phone and see each other on a regular basis but we are much more connected as a result.  If we are online at the same time then we instant message each other and enjoy conversations that we would not normally have.

When one of my colleagues' son was off in Europe working they were in regular Skype conversations.  I found my godfather that I had not seen since I was around 1 because of the internet and I was able to re-establish that connection.  Through Twitter I have established great working connections and have begun to develop an amazing professional learning network.  Technology has brought us closer.  For me technology has made the world smaller and brought me into greater contact with my family and friends.  It has brought me closer to my family which is spread over 3 continents and I am grateful for that.

The need for digital citizenship in elementary

Sometimes trying to follow the different conversations on Twitter is as hard as trying to watch the different scores and news on the sports channels' ticker on the bottom.  Blink at the wrong time and you probably missed what you might have been looking for.  There is no line-up to enter conversations, it seems as though you just jump in.  When the kids are lining up to jump in on the skipping rope, they do so because they have been taught the rules and expectations. This leads to the question of, who is teaching them the rules and expectations online?

I have learned about Twitter by being on Twitter.  No one has taught me about the tags or etiquette.  I have just been trying to figure it all out.  I would go to Google to figure out terminology I was getting like RT and tags.  I have mimicked what others have done and what I have seen.  I have tried using common sense but sometimes my eagerness may have overtaken me.  When two people are having a Twitter conversation, is it appropriate to add your 2 cents? The conversation is public and other people have contributed to a discussion that I have had, so does that make it right?  And herein lies the challenge, as a reasonably well informed educator on this topic, I am not sure.  Where does that put many teachers, parents and students?  Who is teaching digital citizenship and net responsibility?

There is an age-limit, supposedly, for Facebook and yet I have received Friend requests from current and former students who are not yet 13.  Their profiles are wide-open and they have hundreds of friends.The information that they have posted pretty much violates every suggestion for safety and privacy I have seen.  Their parents have no idea when I talk to them.  I have had to delve into youtube videos with highly inappropriate content, and again their parents do not know and were stunned to see the content and see all of the people looking at it.  The conversations that I have with the students demonstrates that they do not know.  Who is responsible to teach them?

Technology is changing at an insane pace.  Kids are seemingly on a technological trip reminiscent of Columbus' trip on the Santa Maria, a time where they thought there was land but no one knew for sure.  We are in uncharted water.  How can we teach ICT and not address Net Citizenship?  The last info tech BC IRP (Our curricular guide) was written in 1996 and is longer considered "curricular" but something that is to be taught within the confines of the other subjects.  If there is no guide and the experience at elementary can be limited to word processing and typing tutor are we meeting the students' and society's needs?

When should Net Citizenship be started?  Who is responsible for what?  What should it look like at each grade?  Are schools responsible for teaching the greater community as well?  There are so many aspects of Info Tech that impact the safety and emotional well being of the students of the school that it is going to take a crucial partnership with parents that must expand beyond calls about work completion, behaviour and help on field trips.  It is a huge journey and to be honest, I am not sure where to start as we are already way behind.