It has now been a few days to reflect, read blogs and collect my own thoughts on EduCon 2.3. As stated in George Couros’ blog post, I, as well, left EduCon feeling exhilarated yet not wanting to run back to my school to implement immediate change. Why? If a conference is so positive why not implement the great ideas shared? Simple. We are currently on the road reshaping our education!
Four Takeaways from EduCon 2.3:
Share:
The last session I attended summed up my thoughts on what we need to do, share! Alec Couros and Dean Shareski led a discussion on “The Ethical Obligation to Teach, Learn & Share Globally.” Given our technological advances the ability to share resources, knowledge and experiences among students, teachers and administrators is no longer a question. It will only benefit the learning of our students each day as they enter our learning environments. As well, in the session the discussion also touched on Creative Commons and licensing your work for proper attribution.
Collaborate:
The challenge in attending a great conference, like EduCon, is there are so many interesting conversations with only limited time. I attended the conference with two other educators, Dana Patterson and Renee Greeley, both of Upper Darby School District. In advance of the conference we discussed this dilemma. Our solution, create a collaborative document to save our notes from the various conversations. During the conference I received a Tweets from Philip Cummings, John Carver and Deron Durflinger requesting access to the notes. Philip was attending the conference while John and Deron were watching the EduCon hashtag. While the notes were not extensive, we were able to collect important sites, resources and a general feel of the conversations we were not able to attend. Given the importance of Sharing and Collaborating, here are our notes if you care to view summaries of various conversations.
Be Educational Leaders, Regardless of Hierarchy:
The opening Sunday session I attended was hosted by George Couros and Patrick Larkin. The intent of the conversation was to ask for assistance. George and Patrick understand the importance of connections among educators, yet also understand the resistance on behalf of many administrators. During the conversation, Patrick made a great point (I paraphrase) …Many times in education it is often explained as “us” vs. “them” (administrators vs. teachers), but we need to realize we are in education together and we must all be Educational Leaders.
We cannot forget why we are all in education, the students!
Importance of a PLN:
The top take away from EduCon 2.3 consists of the deep connections I have made with members of my PLN. I am extremely fortunate to have a wide array of educators from whom I am able to ask question, solicits recommendations, push my thinking and even talk sports. EduCon allowed me to meet many members of my PLN face to face for the first time. I was greeted with a big hug from Patrick Larkin! Patrick and I have Skyped many times this year discussing our schools’ shift to a 1:1 environment and our Web 2.0/PLN class. During the weekend I was able to meet for the first time face-to-face Lyn Hilt, Tony Baldasaro George Couros, Alec Couros, Philip Cummings, Amanda Dykes, Gwyneth Jones, Tim Gwynn, Michelle Baldwin, Cory Plough, Beth Still, Pete Rodrigues, Kristina Peters, Jamie Josephson, Nick Provenzano, and Yoon Soo Lim. While these names are only a few I also had a tremendous opportunity to deepen connections with members of my PLN whom I have been fortunate to interact with over the past year.
In a simple statement, my PLN pushes my thinking; they improve me!
Appreciation:
A “Thank You” must go out to Chris Lehmann and all the students and teachers at SLA for a great experience, once again!!
Bill- I swear I read your whole post!
It was fantastic meeting you (and Dana) this weekend… I am sorry I let you down by not sporting any Braves gear, but if we’re being honest here, I was promised a variety of Phillies goodies to add to my collection that were never delivered.
Love your third takeaway – be educational leaders. I agree, we need to foster leadership in all members of the educational journey, from students and teachers to central office administrators. Looking forward to continued learning with you!
Lyn,
Thanks for your comment! Especially now in our society, we need to support our students from every angle. If, as the adults, we see ourselves in another light, other than an educator, we have lost the focus on our students!
Looking forward to more learning from and with you!!
Bill –
What do you think it is that holds school administrators from using a more distributed leadership model? Is it the feeling of losing control?
I often wonder about how we build leadership in our schools from the bottom up. The principal that did this best would say “Can we walk and talk” and then sling his arm around you – it was a physical pulling in as well as a mental one. But he was only able to do this because the school had developed a shared vision. He gave up that control willingly.
It was great meeting you face to face.
Pete,
Thank you for taking the time to read and comment. I think it could be the thought of losing control which frightens some people. Administrators are tasked with the responsibility and may not feel comfortable in allowing others in to share the responsibility. This is unfortunate. I have a tremendous staff, but it is only recently that I have begun to invite others in to help in the process. I began as a very young administrator and felt as though I needed to control every aspect of what took place on a daily basis. It was not that I didn’t have trust in others, I simply wanted to make sure I knew the job/event/problem was completed. As well, I didn’t want to place something else n my teachers. I felt they had enough responsibiity with their 5 classes and 175 students.
Since allowing others to assist in these tasks I have seen more ownership across the board. It is great to see others involved is the school!
I love the example you used of the principal asking to “walk and talk!” I stive to develop leadership skills that way.
Great to meet you as well at EduCon! Looking forward to learning from/with you!
Bill,
I wish could have attended the session about being leaders regardless of hierarchy. I have great respect for administrators, but don;t think it is the place for me. At the same time, I know I’m a leader and only wish for more opportunities to show it at my level. Your staff is fortunate to have a leader that recognizes that and puts it into practice.
It was great meeting you as well over the weekend. I regret we didn’t have time to talk more. I am hoping you’ll be making the trip to ISTE this summer, where there will be more time to hang out and engage. I would love to hear more about your 1:1 environment.
Tim,
Thanks for taking the time to read my post, greatly appreciated! Looking back I never thought I would teach let along become an administrator! I continue to grow each day as a leader within my school. I am growing to allow each of our teachers to grow within their own strengths. We, as educators, need to continue to grow each day regardless of title or years of service! If we stop growing/learning our students will be the ones who will suffer.
Looking forard to more opportunities to talk! It does not look as though ISTE is in the plans for the summer. Sitting on a far away beach is the plan!
Bill,
Thanks for your thoughtful overview. I’m struck by the way all of your takeaways are so woven together, especially as we engage in reshaping. The two that seem especially linked are openness and leadership. Who’d have thought that openness could be a quality of an effective leader. I’m still chewing on that one. Thanks.