Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Today was another busy day of new people, new learning, and challenge. One thing you realize when you go to a conference like this is that there is a big world of education out there--a world with many ideas, processes, and structures you have never even considered before. There's also countless educators involved in many, many initiatives to better education for all children and teachers.
I learned a lot about the evaluation system today and the ways that the MTA is available to serve as a resource Tomorrow I'll present and then I'll return home to relax before the school year begins.
More about Tuesday
I spent the day Tuesday at the unconference. We spent a lot of time talking about structures that support successful practice and teaching students well. We also shared many stories, strategies, and information related to the new teacher evaluation system. Some of the many tools shared were Stanford's free online math education course, How to Learn Math, Concord Consortium's science models and activities, Explain Everything's platform for making short videos to explain your thinking and share information, and DragonBox, an engaging game for learning algebra.
Tuesday, August 5, 2013
Day one at the MTA Summer Conference reminded me once again why I make this trek out to the beautiful town of Williamstown. Beauty is everywhere as you wander about on the Williams College campus which is nestled in the center of countless hills. Plus, this year's weather is perfect--crisp, cool, fall-like weather.
Yesterday's events first brought me to Laura D'Elia Beals workshop, "Report is a Four Letter Word, Building a Better Elementary Research Project." The workshop was a perfect jumpstart to the work we need to do to boost our research efforts with children to meet new Common Core Standards and teach children well in this age of ready access to information and tools. If you and your team are working to rewrite and revise curriculum related to nonfiction study and research, I recommend hosting Laura at your school for a workshop. This is a link to her wonderful presentation, a presentation that answered many of my questions related to research organization, process, standards, and tech integration.
After a terrific lunch with friends and colleagues under the tent next to the main quad, I helped out with the Ed Talks. The Ed Talks, similar to Ted Talks, give Massachusetts educators a chance to share their passion, projects, and advice related to teaching children well. This year's theme was teaching the whole child. As I watched each presenter practice and the tech crew at work, I realized how much effort goes into the Ed Talk presentations both on the personal and organizational levels. After a great dinner with the presenters, I was able to relax with the audience and enjoy the presentations--inspiring talks that will be available to all on the MTA's You Tube channel soon. After the talks there was time to connect with colleagues. One great advantage of this conference is that you're not rushing home to care for family or take care of errands, instead you have the time to share ideas, stories, and laughter with educators from all over the state.
The conference continues to become more and more tech-savvy. This year MTA has made it easy to follow all the learning with your smart phones or tablets as the MTA has a conference app that includes all pertinent information to help you choose events that match your interests and make connections to educators with similar questions, interests, and responsibilities.
Today's events will find me at the day-long unconference event led by the Burlington team of Diana Marcus, Laura D'Elia Beals, and Dan Callahan. Similar to edcamps, the unconference provides a structure for question-driven research, connection, and project work.
As I post today, I realize that this year's conference is engaging me with many collaborative learning experiences, hence I imagine that my posts will take on more of a summary quality--snapshots that may serve to give you great leads and perhaps entice you to this wonderful conference next year.
Monday, August 5, 2013
In a short while I'll leave home for the MTA Summer Conference. In a sense this annual event is a micro-sabbatical or retreat, a few days in beautiful western Massachusetts to share ideas, read, reflect, and learn with colleagues throughout the state.
I'm looking forward to the week's events including focused learning related to math, research, and technology, inspiring Ed Talks, and time to work with state-wide colleagues as we look for ways to support teachers with the new educator evaluation system in Massachusetts.
As the conference progresses, I'll share updates, links, and images on this post. I look forward to sharing the event with you.
