Conferences are a hallmark of the summer season. Thousands of educators attend events around the United States to connect, learn, and grow. For the past three years I have had the honor of attending and participating in the Model Schools Conference. You can check out a video of my opening mini-keynote HERE. The goal of this event is to set the stage with the latest innovative practices improving school and to begin to lay the foundation for districts and schools to begin planning long-term, job-embedded professional growth opportunities that are anything but the drive-by variety.
What separates this conference from all others is the fact that the program is built around district and school teams who have closed achievement gaps, bridged the digital divide, and implemented innovative practices aligned to research. The model schools and districts put on a display of evidence focusing on what works to create a learning experience driven by practitioner success in the field. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Regardless of the conference you attend, what you do afterwards is what truly matters. Hopefully you are exposed to new ideas, evidence-based strategies, research, and tools that will push your thinking while motivating you to move outside your comfort zone. The experience should result in the construction of new knowledge that can be used as a catalyst for change. Reflecting on what was learned typically comes next. This is something that I see happening at every Model Schools Conference. As the sessions end, you can walk around the conference center and always see district and school teams gathered in rooms or common spaces reflecting on their learning while mapping out a plan for action.
What must happen next is the most critical aspect of any conference or professional growth experience – you must ACT! It is our individual, and most importantly our collective, actions that will help us to move from an old status quo to creating a new status quo. As you begin to develop action plans that tackle both large and small changes pause to think deeply on the process involved. The process of change results in action, but there are many key elements that must be considered if success is the goal. Consider current obstacles and challenges as you navigate the process that culminates with action to transform learning for all students.
Talk, opinions, and assumptions might be catchy and motivating, but quickly lose their luster not if, but when a lack of substance surfaces (which it always does eventually). The same could be said about presentations that just focus on tools. Take a critical lens to the ideas and strategies that you are exposed to. Then ask a few questions to help establish a plan for action:
Don’t get sucked into the rabbit hole of fluff. Always pause to reflect on anything you are exposed to whether it is from a conference, workshop, keynote, presentation, book, article, video, blog, tweet, etc. This definitely applies to anything you read or hear from me! We have isolated pockets of excellence in schools across the world, but every kid deserves excellence. More collective, meaningful action will help to scale effective practices while preparing students for the new world of work. Let’s get to work!
What separates this conference from all others is the fact that the program is built around district and school teams who have closed achievement gaps, bridged the digital divide, and implemented innovative practices aligned to research. The model schools and districts put on a display of evidence focusing on what works to create a learning experience driven by practitioner success in the field. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Regardless of the conference you attend, what you do afterwards is what truly matters. Hopefully you are exposed to new ideas, evidence-based strategies, research, and tools that will push your thinking while motivating you to move outside your comfort zone. The experience should result in the construction of new knowledge that can be used as a catalyst for change. Reflecting on what was learned typically comes next. This is something that I see happening at every Model Schools Conference. As the sessions end, you can walk around the conference center and always see district and school teams gathered in rooms or common spaces reflecting on their learning while mapping out a plan for action.
What must happen next is the most critical aspect of any conference or professional growth experience – you must ACT! It is our individual, and most importantly our collective, actions that will help us to move from an old status quo to creating a new status quo. As you begin to develop action plans that tackle both large and small changes pause to think deeply on the process involved. The process of change results in action, but there are many key elements that must be considered if success is the goal. Consider current obstacles and challenges as you navigate the process that culminates with action to transform learning for all students.
Talk, opinions, and assumptions might be catchy and motivating, but quickly lose their luster not if, but when a lack of substance surfaces (which it always does eventually). The same could be said about presentations that just focus on tools. Take a critical lens to the ideas and strategies that you are exposed to. Then ask a few questions to help establish a plan for action:
- Why will this help transform practice and improve teaching, learning, and/or leadership?
- Is the idea or strategy scalable?
- How will we sustain the effort and show efficacy?
- What research and evidence can be aligned to support the actions to be taken?
Don’t get sucked into the rabbit hole of fluff. Always pause to reflect on anything you are exposed to whether it is from a conference, workshop, keynote, presentation, book, article, video, blog, tweet, etc. This definitely applies to anything you read or hear from me! We have isolated pockets of excellence in schools across the world, but every kid deserves excellence. More collective, meaningful action will help to scale effective practices while preparing students for the new world of work. Let’s get to work!
No comments:
Post a Comment