Wednesday Word Work: Power of Virtual PD

This past Saturday I had the chance to spend the day with The Educator Collaborative Gathering. This is an unique learning experience because I was able to choose from a menu of presentations. The power of of the Google Hangouts and You Tube videos made this multi-dimensional learning experience.  All the sessions were archived so when I couldn't decide between two or three of them I can refer back to the link above and continue learning.

Opening Session with Sara Ahmed and Harvey Daniels

• it's important to lean into the learning  (I'm working on this by not going into conferences with preconceived ideas or questions. Allowing the students to guide the conference.)
• diversity is different for everyone (this was huge for me - I know my experiences impact my teaching but thinking about how each student comes into my classroom everyday with a different perspective is crucial.)
• students come to school curious (although the graph they showed scared me to death that by fifth grades students' curiosity drops considerably)

• if the work that students are doing in my classroom involves curiosity and inquiry then I don't need grit because the grit is built in (I don't get hung up on grit, but I am thinking about inquiry in all my lessons more than I have in the past)

I attended three other sessions and they were just as powerful I spent the day comfortable, part of the time in my pajamas, and learning. It's a gift to be able to learn along with so many smart educators, and I truly appreciate this amazing opportunity.  Follow them on twitter it's a wealth of information. And the icing on the cake, I've already calendared in the next #TheEdCollabCollabGathering