#edcampphilly 2013 - Simply Wonderful!

Yesterday was a fantastic day of learning and connecting at #edcampphilly!  I went back to my edcamp roots and made sure that I was in attendance at this one.  Last year I went to edcampphilly 2012 and it sparked an interest in becoming more involved in the edcamp movement.  I subsequently attended #edcampleadership 2012 and then helped to organize  #edcampNJ 2012.  Now I am currently working with the same group of amazing educators to plan #edcampNJ 2013 which will take place at Linwood Middle School in North Brunswick, NJ on November 23rd.  But, I digress.

As is always the case when I attend an edcamp, I feel reinvigorated and connected by others who are passionate about education and the things that they are doing with children in their classrooms and schools.  Connecting with many of my PLN members from Twitter is also another great benefit of attending.  As @wkrakower tweeted yesterday in response to a tweet about conversations at edcamp:

There were so many amazing sessions to choose from that it was a shame that I could only pick four.  Check out the list of offerings that the participants facilitated throughout the day on the schedule document.  This year the #edcampphilly team added shared Google Docs for each session so that participants could take notes together during and after the sessions.  You can find those on the schedule, as well. (great idea!)  Here are some thoughts about the sessions that I attended.

Session 1: Taking Genius Global - facilitated by Angela Maiers

The conversation in @AngelaMaiers session "Taking Genius Global" was inspirational.  Her passion for giving children a place, a "global refrigerator," to post projects about which they have a passion is powerful.  I am awed by the stories of how the global connection that is afforded us by current technologies allows for students' visions of change in the world to become reality.  As I listened and participated in the conversation with Angela, it became clear to me that we have the opportunity to provide children with the connections that would normally only be found at $1000 a plate cocktail fundraisers.  The ability to connect with people who have the means to make projects and dreams a reality is right there in the palm of our hands (literally)!  Please take a moment to check out the Choose2Matter website and find out how you can get involved.  Here is the link to the Google Doc from the session.  There are a number of great resource links in it.  Thank you Angela, it was inspirational. You Matter!

Session 2: Preventing the Zombie Apocalypse - facilitated by Gerald Aungst

The presentation and conversation led by @geraldaungst was clever and apropos.  While there is a fascination with the fictional Zombie Apocalypse (The Walking Dead, etc.), it is clear that we can foster this same, very real, phenomenon in our schools and classrooms if we do not engage students.  When we as teachers cause/allow them to disengage, we are part of the virus that creates those zombies.  A strong discussion ensued around several key questions:

Should teachers be entertainers?
Who owns the engagement? Students? Teachers? Admins? etc.?

What is the difference between "instructors" and "teachers"?
Are those students engaged who are just chasing GPAs?

Gerald caused us to truly think about so many things surrounding the topic of engagement even beyond those questions.  The room was very lively with discussion.  We also learned about the "diseases" of Elementitis and Aboutitis which are discussed in David Perkins' book Making Learning Whole. If you want some additional insight into this session, check out the Google Doc with shared notes.

Lunch
I mention lunch because it is such a worthwhile time to spend with colleagues discussing the morning sessions and a whole host of other topics.  Enjoying food and conversation is a great way to learn and grow together.

Session 3: PBL in the K-5 Classroom (What does it look like? How does it happen? What are the tech tools to use?) - facilitated by Diana Potts

This discussion led by @pottsedtech helped to highlight the planning and thought processes needed to adapt Project Based Learning to elementary school content and students.  Diana highlighted the need to have a "driving question" to guide the work. Additionally, the discussion touched on Wiggins' UBD concepts and working with a backward design.  What is your desired outcome? --- How do we get there?  She shared a great resource for all things PBL, the Bucks Institute for Education.  One of my big takeaways from this session was the following:

Don't stand in the way of student learning.  Often we limit the students by our expectations. Students learn how to hide their learning for fear of failure, instead of risk-taking.

PBL requires risk-taking and failure is part of the process.  Students don't need to be ashamed if something does not work, they need to learn from it and redesign their project.  This is reality learning!  We also need to keep reminding ourselves and the children that when infusing technology into PBL, technology is anything that solves a problem and had to be designed.  Finally, it was clear the PBL is certainly not easy; however, the "Aha moments" are exciting and it brings out the creativity and the best in our students!  For more see the Google Doc of shared notes.

Session 4: Creating the schools we need vs maintaining the schools we have - A brainstorm on professional learning - facilitated by Mike Ritzius

This discussion was unique in that @mritzius was leading a discussion while working to highlight both the form and content of the session.  We were immediately focused on the participant driven nature of Mike's session and how our personal experience and knowledge made up the "value" of the session.  We wrestled with the ideas of balancing the "have to's" of professional learning (new teacher eval systems, common core, state mandates, technology mandates, etc.) and the "want to's" or participant interest topics.  The questions that we discussed can be found in the Google Doc.  Some of my musings during the session included:

I think it is important to note the fact that I (and many other folks) tweet our ideas and questions and thoughts during the sessions because one of the things this session covered was the different ways that people participate in professional learning.  I am not sure that I could fully benefit from pd anymore if I was not "back channeling" or communicating with others in a focused, related, "side conversation."  However, that is not for everybody.

This session capped off a day of exhausting, rewarding, exciting professional learning.  To top it all off, I learned about some new apps and tools with which I was not familiar during the closing Smackdown!  Before we headed home we also joined the organizers and other participants for a Tweetup afterward at a local restaurant.

Thank you to all of the organizers and attendees this past Saturday for a great experience.  Specifically, thanks to my #njed tweeps for connecting and learning together.  Even more specifically, thanks to @wkrakower, @sirotiak02, and @MissCass22 for two great car rides there and back!

As I have said before, if you have a chance to go to an #edcamp, you should jump at it.   The worst possible thing is that you may spend a Saturday and learn with some great people. The best thing that could happen is you find a whole new model for professional learning that feeds your mind and your passion for teaching and learning!

I hope to see everyone at #edcampNJ on November 23, 2013 in North Brunswick.

Related articles

• My First EdCamp: #edcampPhilly Reflections (drstaub.wordpress.com)
• Hot Pocket Leadership: The Edcamp Movement as a Case Study (educationismylife.com)
• My First EdCamp (primarytechblog.com)
• Knapp Elementary Hosting ParentCamp To Help Parents, Teachers Connect (ptotoday.com)
• EDcamp experience (educatorsforabetterbuffalo.wordpress.com)
• My First EdCamp in Boston! (karenmahon.com)
• My First Edcamp Experience (teachthrutech.com)
• How to Make PD Better (mrerichills.wordpress.com)
• #YouMatter Movement with Angela Maiers (educationismylife.com)

Our Meeting With Grant Wiggins

This past Tuesday, we had the great fortune to have Grant Wiggins at our faculty meeting.  He is doing some work with a couple of our teachers and as we were talking several months ago the topic of state assessments and how teachers prepare their students came up.  As we discussed the topic, I was thrilled that he would be willing to come to one of my faculty meetings to talk about how preparing students for assessments (all assessments) is a matter of instructional design.

Understanding by Design is a familiar concept to many educators.  On a very basic level it is about knowing where you want to go with learning and planning backward to achieve that.  This basic description doesn't begin to explain the nuances of the practices involved in UbD, but it is a starting point.  I felt as though I had a decent understanding of UbD until Grant Wiggins spent about 80 minutes with us and truly brought it to life!  I think the piece that I failed to fully reflect upon was the concept of "Teaching for Understanding."

It seems simple to say that we want our students to understand what we teach; however, our discussion of this topic was truly enlightening.  We explored the things that "a student who understands" can do and the things that "one who knows a lot, but doesn't understand" can do.  Take a step back and think about that for a moment.  It is a powerful distinction.  The examples that Grant Wiggins provided and the vibrant discussion of the staff helped to flesh out this concept.  I have to say that the level of interest, thought, and participation on the part of the faculty was inspiring; especially after teaching a full day!

This led to a discussion of the importance of transfer and what that means for children and assessment.  It is one thing to make sure things get covered and standards get checked off, but it is another to have proof that students understand what has been taught and can transfer that understanding to a variety of situations.  In particular, it is important to ensure that they can do this without the supports provided by the teacher or the scaffolding of a question that provides all of the information to answer the question.

Standardized assessments are not supportive.  They do not scaffold.  They ask students to transfer the things that they have learned in class (standards) to a situation or problem that is likely different and unfamiliar.

So, what does that mean for teaching, learning, and assessment?

I think one of the most powerful concepts that I took away from this meeting was that we must look at what it is we want our students to learn and understand, figure out the things that are getting in the way of them doing that, and design our instruction accordingly. As we do this, we must also gradually allow them to demonstrate their understanding with less scaffolding.  Once again, you may say that sounds like a simple concept, but if you take a step back and think about scope of that task, it is the hard work of planning that must go in to teaching.

This brief post does not do justice to the many ideas we discussed and that are floating around in my mind as I reflect upon the time with Grant Wiggins at that meeting; but, hopefully it will give readers a spark to revisit Understanding by Design.  I know that our staff will be looking at how we approach our units and lessons through this lens.

Related articles

• Grant Wiggins on Escaping Isolation and the Power of Social Media
• Backwards Planning, Understanding & Learning in the Classroom: Understanding by Design