One of the responsibilities of any educator is to get involved in professional development. We need PD in order to improve our craft and learn about new ideas and resources. For many, we have experienced "okay" PD through district channels, conferences we attend, or inservice hours. Most of those opportunities are top-down opportunities that assume the PD needs of teachers. One PD opportunity that is hands-down superior to traditional PD is EdCamp. EdCamp is an "unconference" meaning that sessions are not pre-planned to deliver a learning package to teachers. EdCamp is a conference that is "by teachers, for teachers".
The day is planned out but no sessions are pre-planned. As the educators arrive at the venue, they see large papers with blank schedules on them. Each educator can sign up to present about anything they want for any time they want. Attendance at these sessions is determined by the "two-feet rule" - you keep your audience as long as they are engaged and if they are not engaged, they use their "two-feet" to leave and attend another session. It is the ultimate in democratizing professional development.
Last year, I attended my first EdCamp, EdCampSTL. It was an amazing experience, so much so that this year I wanted to be on the planning committee to help out. I want to pitch in and help make this day as good as it was last year, if not better. I am working with an incredibly motivated band of teachers who are equally dedicated to making this a memorable experience for everyone who attends.
The EdCamp revolution is happening all over the world. There are EdCamps in many cities around the United States and in other countries as well. The real benefit of the EdCamp model is that it is directly relevant to what the educators need; if a session is not, then the teaches leave and find one that is. The PD that teachers receive on this day is the ultimate in personalized learning with innovative educational leaders. EdCamp is, simply, the best PD available for educators.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
Saturday, December 6, 2014
The Teen Lit Review: By Teens, For Teens
A few years ago, while I was going through my Masters of Library Science program, I was introduced to the Book Review Board at Missouri State University. Our class assignment was to write a review for a book review board and, after taking a look at the BRB at Missouri State University, I wondered why we could not have something similar that was run by kids. After all, the BRB was reviewing YA Lit, but it had adults reviewing for teens. I thought it would be a cool idea for teens to review YA Lit for other teens, librarians and teachers. The next day, the Teen Lit Review (@TeenLitReview) was born (link on right side of this page under "Online Presence").
One of my pet peeves throughout my decades of teaching has been adults telling kids what they "should" be reading instead of showing kids an array of great books and letting them choose what to read. When teachers and librarians choose books for their classes, it is often done based on an adult's reading or review of the book. Those are not usually the same books that kids want to read. Why shouldn't kids promote books they love to other kids? Why should the books that teachers and librarians have in their rooms be there based on adults' reviews and not kids' reviews? I thought that kids needed an outlet for their opinions about what they read.
I set up a blog that looked similar to the format used at Missouri State. It is very clean and each review has its own page. Visitors to the blog can scroll down the list on the left to get to other book reviews. I asked kids in my classes, who had to do reader response journals, if they would like to polish up some of their journals and submit them to the Teen Lit Review. Many students did so.
Three years after its creation, there are hundreds of reviews posted, hundreds of followers of our Twitter account and dozens of comments about the books and reviews. We have even had authors contact us, send us their books, and ask us to review them. Every time an author has contacted us, we have found at least one student to read the book and post the review online.
The review is a great way for students to write for an authentic audience, see their work online and interact with readers around the globe. Now, we have been connecting with classrooms across the country and invited those students to submit reviews to the TLR as well. I tell my kiddos that The Teen Lit Review is not a class project or a school project; it is a real-world learning experience and any student from across the globe can participate. It is a way for kids to have their voices heard about what they like to read. Because of their efforts, the Teen Lit Review grows bigger everyday.
One of my pet peeves throughout my decades of teaching has been adults telling kids what they "should" be reading instead of showing kids an array of great books and letting them choose what to read. When teachers and librarians choose books for their classes, it is often done based on an adult's reading or review of the book. Those are not usually the same books that kids want to read. Why shouldn't kids promote books they love to other kids? Why should the books that teachers and librarians have in their rooms be there based on adults' reviews and not kids' reviews? I thought that kids needed an outlet for their opinions about what they read.
I set up a blog that looked similar to the format used at Missouri State. It is very clean and each review has its own page. Visitors to the blog can scroll down the list on the left to get to other book reviews. I asked kids in my classes, who had to do reader response journals, if they would like to polish up some of their journals and submit them to the Teen Lit Review. Many students did so.
Three years after its creation, there are hundreds of reviews posted, hundreds of followers of our Twitter account and dozens of comments about the books and reviews. We have even had authors contact us, send us their books, and ask us to review them. Every time an author has contacted us, we have found at least one student to read the book and post the review online.
The review is a great way for students to write for an authentic audience, see their work online and interact with readers around the globe. Now, we have been connecting with classrooms across the country and invited those students to submit reviews to the TLR as well. I tell my kiddos that The Teen Lit Review is not a class project or a school project; it is a real-world learning experience and any student from across the globe can participate. It is a way for kids to have their voices heard about what they like to read. Because of their efforts, the Teen Lit Review grows bigger everyday.
Friday, November 21, 2014
A Little MOREnet
Last year, our 20% Time experience with the kids was amazing. We are building on that experience this year by tweaking what we did last year, introducing some new elements to the project process, and learning as much as we can from others. One part of that learning was attending the MOREnet technology conference in Columbia, MO in October. Melissa and I had the good fortune to have our presentation "Harmonized Learning: A 20% Time Learning Environment" accepted for the MOREnet conference.
On the morning of our first day at the conference, we presented, to a nearly full conference room, the philosophy behind 20% Time, the process we developed for the project over the course of the year, and the learning that the kids experienced. We know we are a bit ahead of the curve but the audience seemed very interested in how to incorporate some of the 20% Time philosophy into their own teaching situations. We received a lot of positive feedback after the session and it is those kinds of experiences, along with the everyday experiences with the kids, that continue to convince us that we are on the right track when it comes to the kind of learning environment where kids learn best.
Next on our presentation schedule is EdCampSTL in February. There is also a possibility that we will be presenting at the METC Conference in St. Charles in February and the RCET Conference in Springfield in March.
On the morning of our first day at the conference, we presented, to a nearly full conference room, the philosophy behind 20% Time, the process we developed for the project over the course of the year, and the learning that the kids experienced. We know we are a bit ahead of the curve but the audience seemed very interested in how to incorporate some of the 20% Time philosophy into their own teaching situations. We received a lot of positive feedback after the session and it is those kinds of experiences, along with the everyday experiences with the kids, that continue to convince us that we are on the right track when it comes to the kind of learning environment where kids learn best.
Next on our presentation schedule is EdCampSTL in February. There is also a possibility that we will be presenting at the METC Conference in St. Charles in February and the RCET Conference in Springfield in March.
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