When I first heard about edcampTO, I was intrigued by the idea. I put it into my schedule, but knew that it was still many weeks away. Then the weeks turned into days, and finally it was the night before the event. I must admit, on Friday evening I had a lot of reservations about going. The thought of getting up early on a Saturday morning and leaving my family for the day did not thrill me. My family time is precious to me, and the thought of missing a day that we usually all spend together was enough to make me rethink my decision. I was also going alone, and I have never been good at that. However, despite my reservations, my alarm still went off early Saturday morning. I got up, got ready, and headed out to York University for edcamp.
I registered, walked into the room, and sat at a table alone. I immediately opened my laptop and begin to follow the twitter stream. Within a few moments I was approached by one of the organizers, asking if I would be willing to help out at the registration table. And so off I went. When I had done what they needed, I headed back to my table and waited for the events of the day to begin. Within a few moments I was joined by some others and we began to talk. (Many thanks to Stephen Lippa and Tim King for pulling me out of my lonely start.)
I chose not to enter my own topic (way too bold for me) and instead I jumped into the sessions led my others. At first I was very quiet and just listened. Eventually I entered into conversations and felt free to voice my opinions, even those that were different from the opinions of others. When I left I felt drained, but I also felt that there was so much that I got out of the day. It took me into the evening before I was able to piece together my thoughts and impressions.
So now it is one day later, and here is some of what I took out of edcampTO:
• We want students to take risks in the classroom. In fact, we tell them to. Yesterday it was hard for me to enter a room full of strangers. I also recognize that in the first session it took me a while to find my courage and voice my opinions. Once I had taken the first steps the ice was broken, and the fear was gone. When encouraging students to take risks, we need to find ways to help them take those first steps, and then we need to ensure that we follow up with them afterward. We also need to share our experiences so that they know that what they are feeling is quite natural.
• There are many people who are not teachers, but who value education enough to have spent their Saturday discussing topics with teachers. As introductions went on in sessions, I kept meeting people who were outside the direct field of education. Yet these participants were highly engaged in conversation and had strong opinions. It was nice to see.
• The day was definitely a validation that I and my fellow educators at my school are doing something right. I was so surprised to hear about how students are taught in many classrooms around the city and province. These were not the practises of the educators at edcampTO, and I believe that wholeheartedly. Any educator who is willing to spend their weekend discussing how to improve their students’ learning is not one who discounts the needs of those same students. Rather it was the stories they told of what they have seen from others that shocked me.
I heard about teachers who stand up in front of the classroom and deliver lectures – day after day after day. I kept asking “Does that really happen?”, and the answer was, unfortunately, yes. Perhaps it is because that I do not work for a school run by the Ministry of Education, and so I am not mandated to ensure that I can check off every curriculum expectation as having been covered. I follow the Ontario curriculum, but I am not bound by Ministry guidelines, and so I have more freedom in my classroom. I guess this allows me more time. That time is spent letting students build and construct, letting them explore concepts and dive into real-world tasks. It is a rare week that they have not participated in a hands-on task. I never realized that this was not common practise in other classrooms.
I heard about teachers who only allow learning to be shown through essays. There are no other options. Other than formal lab reports, my students are allowed to present their learning in whatever format suits them best. They can write an essay if they choose, but they can also prepare blogs, twitter streams, documentaries, commercials, letters, books, or any other presentation mode which will best highlight their abilities. When I shared this with a group, one person asked if I have difficulties managing the students with so many different things going on. My answer was no, because the students are doing what interests them, and so they are engaged.
I left knowing that I am doing good things in the classroom. I may not be doing everything right, and I most certainly have my moments when I do things wrong, but I feel that those moments do not define me.
• I listened to many opinions about good practises in education. Some opinions I agreed with, and some I did not. (I so wish that I had been in the session on homework – they would have heard an earful!) Sometimes you are not sure how strongly you believe in something until you are forced to defend your thoughts. This day allowed me to question some of my beliefs while strengthening others, all done through good conversation.
Thanks, edcampTO, for a great experience.
And thank you to all those who talked with me and shared ideas throughout the day. I look forward to our continued conversations on twitter.
