The first day of the Connect Ed Canada conference was spent at the Calgary Science School, (check out their blog). The highlight of the day was a full morning tour of the building with Grade 7 students Kristen and Julie, which I shared with Shelley Wright.
I wish that I was recording Kristen when she explained to Shelley, Rod Lucier and I what was different about the CSS compared to her previous school, (she moved here for Grade 6). Kristen very eloquently told us about how teachers are more like guides, and that the questions come from students, and how they don’t do work sheets. Throughout the tour it became evident that the work she shared was a product of her own exploration and interests. Julie too, shared incredible enthusiasm and interest in providing us with a detailed and comprehensive tour of this amazing school… but what shined through more than anything was that this was a place these students were proud of, and one that they helped to create.
On top of the amazing tour, I’m once again blown away by the connections I have with people I’ve never before met face-to-face. From George Couros‘ hug-greeting at the airport to connecting with Shelley and Rod, I find it hard to describe meeting great, long-time friends… for the very first time. The lines between ‘digital’ vs ‘in-real-life’ friendship have truly blurred for me over the past 7 years. Geography is no longer a barrier to friendship.
And the quote of the day goes to George:
“The best teachers don’t inspire their kids, they are inspired by kids.”
George also called me out, (rather publicly I might add), for not blogging enough recently, and he is right. I think blogging is the best professional development I’ve ever done… and I’m going to commit to sharing more in the coming months!
The second best Professional Development I’ve ever done is lurking, sharing, re-sharing and learning on Twitter. So I’ll end here with things shared on twitter at the conference.
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Here are some of my tweets and images of the day:
Grade 4 class at CSS – on a student led tour with @wrightsroom http://pic.twitter.com/NSIeSe6w
*What ingredients come from plants? http://pic.twitter.com/jJBFRLcr
*Highway Public Service Announcements http://pic.twitter.com/lzzTOJum
*Designed in Sketchup & examined from all angles in Google Earth http://pic.twitter.com/Q8G9PTvE
*Kristen & Julia are so articulate about the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of happenings at CSS http://instagr.am/p/LDlG2gRYCp/
*Wonderful words worth knowing http://pic.twitter.com/XyTYmBMQ
*Roller coaster/forces http://instagr.am/p/LDpioMRYEg/
*Sustainability https://vimeo.com/42726413 http://pic.twitter.com/ua4ZbT0V
*Energy, the local environment, 1st Nations, land use… http://instagr.am/p/LDspfDxYF5/
*”At the Calgary Science School, there is no such thing as an ordinary day!” Gr. 8 student, & the general consensus of all of us
*Connections, conversations and continuous learning. @gcouros http://pic.twitter.com/4o6jsTM2
*Augmented reality posters with the String app http://pic.twitter.com/PTVeNPdU
*“@Neilstephenson: Watching @datruss and @wrightsroom get a lesson in AR. http://pic.twitter.com/43Kc5bQp”~ Excellent teachers!
*Amazing Videos – “At CSS we do this a lot, we create our own rubrics for our projects” http://pic.twitter.com/x1iRNqh9
*Exemplary Teaching http://pic.twitter.com/VaoNkGj7 Exemplary Learning http://pic.twitter.com/tWoy9sPM
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Other tweets of note from the day: (Like mine, these were shared with a #connectedca hashtag, but I removed hashtags and just kept the quotes.)
*The word that keeps popping up in my head over and over at CSS is “culture”
*@wrightsroom says “Kids often exceed our expectations if we give them opportunity
*Yes! It’s all about making the thinking “transparent”! MT @sutton_c @gcouros “explain the why.” 🙂
*A Simple Ed Reform Solution – Connect School Life to Real Life http://flpbd.it/LkfPs
*“@MadameWiebe: so like what exactly is an inquiry project? http://instagr.am/p/LENVW1t4UH/”
*Wondering what Inquiry looks like? CSS Gr5 project from elegantly integrates Science/SS- Citizenship + Id http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUmHqjssLFA
*Outstanding student tour guides for our morning visit to Calgary Science School -amazing school!
*“@thecleversheep: These kids are incredibly articulate in speaking about their learning…” AGREED!!
Rachael Corneil ?@RachaelCorneil
*A big thanks to all of the teachers and students that let us into their classrooms. We saw amazing things today.
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Please share your insights on the day!
Thanks for sharing for all of us who can’t be there. Sounds amazing!
I have been reading your blog for a while and this post struck a chord with me. I had a similar experience with some of the same people last summer at Unplud in Algonquin Park. I met people who I had previously only known digitally. I brought back Shelly’s stories and blog to my own teachers. The power of the digital network to connect learners is what it’s all about. Maybe one day we will connect too.
“The best teachers don’t inspire their kids, they are inspired by kids.”
Seeing this post made me happy and proud of myself for choosing the teaching profession.
The conference was indeed amazing!
Daryl, I hope we can meet face-to-face some time soon. I wanted to go to Unplugd last year, but couldn’t, so this year I’m going! I’ve been a fan of Shelly’s for a while now… her blog is fantastic, and hearing her story in person was very special. I got to hang out and have incredible learning conversations with some pretty fantastic people. The conference exceeded my expectations!
More blog posts about the conference can be found here: http://2di.me/cedcablogs
Thanks for the comments,
Dave