In my previous school district, I was the only teacher teaching a physics course with set, district-wide learning outcomes. These same outcomes were also taught in physics classrooms at the other high school in our district. But at our school, I was one of the 2 physics teachers. The other teacher taught the AP-level physics courses. So, in many ways, I had opportunities to incorporate strategies I believed were best for learners and that I found worked best for them without being seen as out of alignment with anyone in our building. My amazing friend and one of my teaching philosophy goddesses, Katie Novak, stated the following misconception about alignment: All teachers must deliver instruction in the exact same way. True alignment, she says, is about shared goals, rigor, and outcomes. Thank you, Katie! Katie has taught me to truly believe that learner variability is the rule, not the exception. I encourage you to take 10 minutes to listen to Katie Novak explain it in the ...
So, what change am I looking at now? Over the past year, my administration has embraced the idea that professional development does not have to look the same for everyone. During our PD time, educators are often given the space to choose their own path and attend staff led sessions that meet their needs. This PD has been some of the best of my career. It was with this in mind that, I choose to take a risk as a professional.
In late 2016, I sent out an open invitation to staff in my district to see if any would be willing to come together to host an EdCamp in our district. I was amazed when over 25 peers asked to be a part of the team. Even more impressive is that only a couple had actually attended an EdCamp. So we have educators who are willing to take a great risk and plan an event that they have never seen first hand. This is the innovator's mindset if there ever was one.
Over the past 4 months, the members of our team have been doing amazing work to find sponsors for our event and plan the logistics. We've been able to get our breakfast and lunch paid for as well as some great prizes for our end of the day raffle. These great prizes include a couple of copies of The Innovator's Mindset George so kindly donated to the cause. We look forward to getting those in some brave hands.
Our EdCamp is scheduled for March 25th. When we opened registration on the first of 2017, I was afraid no one would come. But, this risk is paying of in numbers that are higher that I would've expected. What has surprised me is that about 65% of our attendees come from outside of our district. This really speaks to the power of the EdCamp brand and the quality of PD educators find there.
I am happy that I took this risk. But, I'm really proud of the educators I have on my team. We have staff from 9 of the 11 schools in our district K-12. These are change agents who are putting their time on the line to create learning opportunities for others. They want to create meaningful experiences for all learners staff and students. It is fun to see staff on our team who did not know each other come together and create this partnership based on a common goal. They all have unique talents that they are bringing to the team. It is a group that is centered on solutions not complaints. We are problem finders and problem solvers. But we don't do it alone. We do it together. We understand that the greatest changes and made when we have a team to increase our inertia. So, once the ball is rolling, it will keep on rolling and it will take a lot of force to slow us down.
If you are in the Wisconsin area, we would love to have you attend our EdCamp on March 25th. More info can be found on our site. Here's a direct link to the registration.
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