This past week, I was invited to attend EdShift 2016 by one of our middle school principals, Jeanette McNeely and the librarian on the campus, Marcia Riebe. Honestly, before their invitation, this event wasn't even on my radar. And why not, I wondered?! The keynotes looked amazing & you had the opportunity to talk about education transformation! Two days of workshops, keynotes & dialogue about education.The opening keynote was being given by SIR KEN ROBINSON, who gave a TED Talk in 2006 called Do Schools Kill Creativity? that is the most watched TED Talk. My principal at the time, Racheal Rife, showed this to us and I can remember being inspired to do better after watching it. If you are not one of the more than 32 million people who have watched this talk, here it is:
During the keynote, Robinson talked a lot about changing the culture of our education system. That we should support a healthy ecosystem of learning, and not be focused on testing. Robinson shared how the testing industry made more money than either the NFL or the movie industry in 2013 and continues to be a huge money maker. He said that if we create a system of conformity and tedious testing, don't be surprised of the results you get (boredom & conformity.) For some, his message is one they have heard many times, but I believe there are still so many who are not tuned in to the need to shift education and hope this message also reaches them.
EdShift 2016 was promoted as an "Education Gabfest" for people who want to change the conversation about education. With experts in the field there to provide support as your team met, decided on a plan and then created a roadmap of how you would shift what you were doing to transform education in your classroom, on your campus, or within your school district. In addition, workshops were offered on topics such as learning spaces, redesigning PD, school culture and more. The information shared during these workshops helped to shift our thinking and provide resources that we could come back to. After the workshops we were able to work on our plan & roadmap, with help from these experts. It was great to be able to ask questions and brainstorm not only with our team, but others who have a different perspective. This process went on throughout the two days.
The closing keynote was by Jaime Casap, the Chief Education Evangelist at Google and his wrap up was a perfect way to end these two days. He reminded us that there is a need for a culture shift. Jaime talked about how "collaboration" is how problems are solved, but that schools are set up as a solo event. Google is constantly updating apps, searches, tools etc, they are in a constant state of improvement. Are schools? He talked about how education models are created to support the economy and questioned whether we have the right education model for the economy today? And he encouraged us to create a culture of iteration & innovation, where we are always trying, experimenting, doing and redoing! Very inspiring way to end EdShift 2016!
Highlights of the two days:
Having Sir Ken Robinson sign my copy of his new book, Creative Schools. A takeaway from the keynote was that although it may seem overwhelming to change "the system" when we walk into our classroom or onto our campus, WE are the system. WE determine the impact we want to have on our students. We should focus on the culture of our school and not the testing output. Watching the very talented sketchnote artist create this visual of the keynote by Sir Ken Robinson. This is one of those jobs that you wouldn't have even thought would exist, but there was someone who created sketchnotes for not only the two keynotes, but also, the student panel discussion.
Learning more about rethinking professional development. Several different presenters talked about the difference between teacher training & teacher coaching. Just as we should personalize learning for our students, we should also personalize learning for our teachers. In the Engage 2 Learn session, I learned that there is a 95% implementation rate when teachers receive coaching instead of just training. Another great takeaway was that we could reach a tipping point by focusing on 16-20% of the teachers.
During the session led by Michelle King from Learning Forward suggested that schools should clarify with teachers what are resources (Twitter, GAFE, Canvas LMS) and what are initiatives (Fundamental 5, Continuous Improvement.) Another takeaway was that to transform professional development, there should be less "episodic adult pull-out" and more collaborative learning. These two sessions made me even more anxious to get the new professional learning badging system going.
And three fabulous quotes.
Respectfully question everything. (From the Student Panel)
Education disrupts poverty. (Jaime Casap)
Nothing is more important than having a great teacher in the classroom. (Jaime Casap)
These two days were full of conversations, planning, learning and more conversations about how we could truly transform what we are doing in our district. It also reaffirmed the great things we are already working on through our Profile of a Graduate (Learner) and our Strategic Planning process. It is an exciting time to be in education!
