ECET2-MA2016 Success!

Thanks to a room full of dedicated, creative, and collaborative educators at the wonderful Microsoft building in Kendall Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts, ECET2-MA2016 was a terrific success.

I realize this morning that it's a lot more difficult to review the day and write about the event from the a planner's perspective than that of an attendee since there was no way that I could attend every presentation, sit in on each colleague circle, or engage with every attendee. That's why I had a number of conversations with colleagues who attended the event this morning and collected all the tweets I could find to place in the Storify below. In the days to come I'll continue to collect #ecet2ma2016 Tweets from attendees, converse with colleagues who attended the event, and let the day's observations, conversations, and share simmer.

Initially, however, I'm pleased to say that it was a tremendous event thanks to substantial educator investment, flexibility, and share as well as wonderful sponsor/partner support. In the meantime, if you want to share your insights from the day's event please tweet at #ecet2ma2016, email, or add your thoughts to this Google doc. Also don't forget to submit a mini grant application if interested. Please complete the event survey and don't hesitate to reach out to the planning team to let us know about your thoughts on the day, the ways you'll "pay it forward," and any questions you may have. In the days ahead we'll add presentation and Teacher2Teacher lightbulb moment links as well as any other related information, so we invite you to continue to visit the website for updates.

#ECET2-MA2016 Arrives

It's awesome when trusted colleagues from
your PLN meet one another: Lisa Simon,
ECET2 Planning Committee Member and
Rik Rowe, ECET2 Presenter and
 #EdchatMA co-leader.

Today's the day for our MA2016 Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teaching and Teachers (ECET2) Teach All Children event. I'm up in the wee hours as there's a lot to do in order to have the event up and running at 8 a.m. for the many participants who will attend #ecet2ma2016 today.

Last night was the perfect start to the weekend as the planning team had a bit of time to sit down and talk about the day, relax a bit, and chat with a number of today's presenters and attendees. Words such as "I'm looking for the next thing," and "This is the first time I've attended an event like this," brought renewed enthusiasm to me as I thought about today's event, an event meant to highlight the following ECET2 ingredients.

• Nurture trust among teachers.
• Focus on each teacher's potential for growth.
• Inspire both the intellect and the passion that drives teachers in their work.
• Provide time for collaboration and learning.
• Put teachers in the lead.
• Recognize teachers as talented professionals.

At the reception, educators quickly found one another and talked about education and non-education topics. The commonality was that everyone there was willing and looking forward to spending a Saturday devoted to thinking about and sharing ideas related to Teaching All Children. Our common interest and quest related to this theme brought us together. 

ECET2's create the opportunity to meet educators 

from other schools--that always brings new ideas, 

enthusiasm, and energy!

The most challenging part of today's set-up will be lugging lots and lots of boxes. Fortunately, in addition to the planning team, we've recruited family members to help out with that task. The next most timely task will be setting up the room with markers, blurbs, hand-outs, tokens of appreciation bags, colleague circles and more--we'll divide and conquer as we are only able to get into the venue one hour before the start. Again teacher and teaching-enthusiast family members, friends, and colleagues have agreed to volunteer in this regard.

When the day starts, the agenda brings us from the early morning breakfast meet and greet to Jose Vilson's keynote, break-out sessions, colleague circles, a lunch hosted by Chop Chop Magazine, more break-out sessions, colleague circles, "Cultivating a Calling" keynotes by student essayist Rachel Kennedy and educators, Liz Soeiro and Suzy Brooks, closing remarks, and an end-of-the-event reception. Tomorrow we have a 10 a.m. #ecet2ma2016 wrap-up chat planned and there is money available from The Nellie Mae Education Foundation for a number of mini-grants that interested educators may apply for to bring forward the learning and enthusiasm from the event.

ECET2-MA 2016 Planning team member and
MA 2016 Teacher of the Year, Audrey Jackson,
has relayed many wonderful stories about her colleague,
Victor Joyner. Another great aspect of ECET2's is that
we get to meet our education friends' and colleagues'
trusted, inspirational education partners, mentors,
and team members. 

To get the most out of today, it's important that educators bring an open mind, a sense of celebration, and a willingness to share ideas, ask questions, and work together to solve problems and create. It's amazing what our diverse experiences, enthusiasm, and conversation can do to inspire each of us. I noticed that last night as I spoke with educators at the reception--it makes me want to go back to school and teach better. That's why I'm committed to events and affiliations like this that bring educators together based on forward thinking and energizing principles. ECET2's similar to edcamps, collegial conferences, regular collegial meetings, chats, and other venues that bring us together serve to elevate, celebrate, and positively challenge what we can do to make a difference in our education pursuits, collaboration, and contribution. I know today will affirm this spirit as well as bring with it a number of wonderful surprises and new learning. Onward. 

Express Yourself or Not?

Once an administrator said to me, "I don't know why you write those long emails." I replied, it's because I don't have the time for these long conversations and I feel the issues I raise are important.

Another colleague told me that she doesn't share her thoughts because it's not the best way--you need to be more politically savvy.

The Teacher Leadership Initiative and the TeachPlus online policy course focused on communication a lot to help educators know how to advocate for what they need and why they need it.

Advocacy, questioning, and idea share remain a challenging aspect to teaching and learning today. Often there aren't ready avenues or communication patterns created and used for this kind of share. The communication vehicles for this share exist in today's tech savvy world. In fact at MassCUE this week I listened to three educational leaders discuss how they optimize social media for share with all stakeholders to forward the teaching and learning possible.

I continue to write long emails when I feel an issue is important and I believe that the information has merit with regard to better programming, collaboration, and teaching. I also ask a lot of questions, and when I don't receive a response I may ask the question again if I believe the information is important to what I can do with and for students. I read a lot to make sure that my questions and share are not out of line with current research, and I actually readily embrace debate and discussion when others feel that my share is out of line with the research, good intent, or worthy endeavor. The bottom line is that I want to teach well, contribute in a meaningful way, and help the system where I teach continue to reach in order to uphold and better our excellent reputation. There's no reason why we can't be a "lighthouse" system since we have what we need to do the job well and can serve as an example for other systems and schools with regard to successful support and programming. Yet, I also believe there's no one way to teach or run a system successfully as it's important that every school and system respond well to the context where they exist. School communities and systems have to be sensitive to the people, environment, needs, interests, and possibility unique to their community--that's important.

I continue to believe that the more we are willing to speak up, ask questions, share the good news, and work together to teach and learn well, the better we will serve students. This, in turn, will help educators promote positive communities--the kind of communities that support our democracy with "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness."

Teach Well: Stay Strong and Positive

It's been an incredibly busy week including some personal expectations, MassCUE, systemwide professional learning event, and now ECET2-MA2016. I didn't expect all of these events to come at the same time, but fortunately, by planning ahead, I've been able to keep up with only a few errors so far.

The busy week has thrust me into many spheres of education action and think--some that I agree with, some I am challenged by, and some that are new to me.

The education sea is often wavy due to constraints related to time, philosophy, role, support, focus, and vision. It's rare for large groups of educators to be in the same place as we all bring varying years of experience, perspective, backgrounds, and priorities to school with us each day.

The key is to stay strong and positive.

Twice this week I heard of efforts that occurred that impact my work in circuitous ways. When this happens, it's defeating as the new information creates all kinds of havoc, havoc that could have been prevented with greater transparency of share with regard to professional events, decisions, and information. I continue to be a fan of transparent, ready, and regular share of all information that impacts the work we do and try to represent that belief in my share with colleagues, family members, and students. This kind of share saves time, creates team, and promotes the good work possible.

How does one stay strong in light of continual surprises and circuitous information share? First, I have to change my expectations--I keep thinking that things will change, and they haven't in many spheres with regard to ready information share. I have to expect that I will not receive answers or hear about news often as that's the way it happens in some places. Yet, on the other hand, there are ready sources of good information in many groups that I belong to. For example our State shares information readily. It's easy to find scores, news of upcoming events, dates, and other information in timely ways that affects my work. The same has been true with our ECET2 work--information has been forthcoming, supportive, and encouraging--this has kept the team on track and enabled us to push the event further than we might have without that information share.

Another challenge this week is the multiple viewpoints with regard to math teaching and learning. The greater math teaching/learning world is often at odds with one another about what matters in math teaching and learning. I continue to be a fan of Saul Khan and I'm almost always in agreement with his points of view and work. Just yesterday he published a new TedTalk about the need to help students gain mastery with essential concepts (see below). I'm also a fan of Jo Boaler and Keith Devlin, math researchers and educators who have positively affected my math teaching and learning. There are many talented math educators in my school system too. Just yesterday I was able to watch three of those educators teach and talk with many more committed math educators. I think our system work would profit from greater strategy, analysis, good process, differentiation, and goal setting with regard to professional share and development. I find that I see math teaching and learning very differently from many in the math world, and I believe this is true due to my somewhat unique professional learning, perspective, and experience profile with regard to math teaching and learning. Yet many math educators may feel this way because there is little rich time for math educators to come together to discuss what they do and why they do it. Like Jo Boaler I would like to see substantial change in the way we structure and teach math programs. I think modern day tools and resources make better math teaching and learning more possible today than ever before, but to do this well requires effective, distributive teacher/student-centered goal setting, process, strategy, and collaboration--all efforts that are still mainly new to many educators and systems at this time. The "factory model" of decision making and effective teaching and learning is still pervasive in many education arenas.

The final challenge of the week is related to energy and time. Both energy and time are limited. Like all educators, I try to maximize that as much as possible, but truly the best way to maximize this effective, targeted teamwork that relies on open, collective analysis. Together we can do more and this matters in education.

In just a few hours I'll start the ECET2-MA2016 adventure. My den is covered with folders filled with a book, notebook, pens, magnets, and a magazine. There are badges and twitter buttons, colorful sharpies and #TeachALLChildren hearts,  #lightbulbmoment blurbs, and #WhyITeach announcements. The Lynch Foundation is dropping off bags and bottles at the hotel soon too.

I'll spend the morning reviewing presentations, preparing for tonight's reception, and working with my team to move lots of materials and put the finishing touches on tomorrow's big event. The focus tomorrow is to "Elevate and Celebrate Effective Teaching and Teachers" with a focus on Teach All Students. The more I work with this ECET2 focus, the more I like it. Just think if every system put "Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teaching and Teachers" at the forefront of their work. If that were true I believe enthusiasm, risk taking, innovation, positivity, and energy would rise, and that increase would help all of us serve students and families better.

It remains challenging to navigate the wavy waters of teaching and learning, however if we focus on staying strong and positive we will do well. With my own craft and collaboration in mind, I will continue to advocate for greater teacher empowerment, transparent share, and good process as these strategies hold great promise for who we are and what we can do. I will also continue to read and research because the experts within and around teaching and learning provide good research, perspective, and insight with which to move our programs forward. No one educator will have all the answers, and it is in our positive collaboration that we'll do best. Onward.

Moving Forward: Late October 2016

ECET2-MA2016 is right around the corner, and I must say it has already been a terrific learning event. I've learned so much about putting on a conference, and I'll always respect conference organizers after this event. I never realized how much leg work goes into making a conference happen.

I'm really excited to meet all the people who chose to go to this event. I can't wait to hear the keynotes speak and network with the people there. It's great to know that there are so many people eager to spend a day discussing how we can Teach ALL Children.

At school I look forward to continuing the teaching/learning program with the students. When my team presented at the MassCUE conference this week, it made me realize how rich and positive our shared teaching model is. I'm committed to investing in that model and focusing on the students and educators who work together to effect the best possible learning and teaching.

I'm thinking about professional culture, professional learning, and the new ESSA legislation too. I truly want to work with colleagues to build a top notch professional environment that puts educators and students first. I want to see educators have greater ownership, choice, and voice with regard to the issues that affect them. I want greater transparent and open share as well as differentiated professional learning. There's no reason for educators to feel diminished or disregarded in our schools as we have a terrific environment for high quality teaching and learning. Good teachers are hired and remain in our system, and I'd like to see those teachers have a greater opportunity to lead their collective efforts and result.

Once ECET2-MA2016 is past, I'll also focus on learning to write a book with a mentor who has offered mentoring and leadership in this regard. That will be a good professional challenge. Another challenge I'm looking forward to exploring more is our collective team goal related to culturally proficient teaching.

Before big events like ECET2-MA2016, I like to look and think about what will happen once the event is over. I hope to take the learning and enthusiasm from the event back to school. I'll also work with colleagues to help students prepare their showcase portfolios for upcoming parent conferences. This reflective piece helps students to direct and appreciate their own learning.

For now, it's all about ECET2-MA2016. Onward.