EduCon 2.1 Sunday Morning Reflections
by Antonio
This is my first time attending EduCon and I must admit that it has on the whole, delivered in every way. As I sit here in a Starbucks trying to catch my breath and enjoying a Vanilla Rooibus Tea latte I am thinking about the depth and breadth of conversations I have been able to have over the last two days. From our arrival on Friday afternoon, our tour of the Science Leadership Academy, the panel discussion at The Franklin Institute, the Saturday sessions, my presentation, the networking gathering and Sunday morning panel, the experience has been superb.
While I am still gathering my collective thoughts and trying to process much of what I have learned and heard over the past few days, I wanted to capture some of the enduring understandings that have left a mark on me.
- Part of the purpose of school should be to foster creativity, collaboration and courage.
- Schools should be a place where students generate ideas rather than just regurgitate them.
- We should strive to create environments where students have the ability to try out new ideas and test creative ideas.
- Working towards fostering new humanities rich environments where teachers can help “capture and harness student energy in order to shape it.”
- Schools should try to provide opportunities for students to convey concepts and original ideas through thoughtful, technology rich collaboration opportunities.
- “Schools should be about communication.”
- “A teacher has not really taught unless the student has learned.”
- If schools looked to the Mars Rover Mission for inspiration, they could see that any decision that they are about to make that does not meet the mission of the school is expendable.
- Schools should serve as the anchor and social hub for young people; they should be “the place to be” and have access to cool creative tools where students can create.
- As school administrators, we should strive to accept and embrace change with courage and confidence to challenge the status quo, and work toward fostering this mindset among all members of our school communities.
- Schools should work hard to become partners in the local economy where they can provide authentic, real-world experiences that allow students to take their original ideas to market.
- Small “schools” can exist within larger school structures. Meaningful relationships where no child falls through the cracks.
- “Transforming schools is not a mystery. What is needed is the moral courage to do what we know is right.”
- Gary Stager “As the richest country in the world we should provide every student with a computer and a cello.”
- Mandating systemic change has failed our schools, at what point will we truly honor diversity by seeing every school as unique?
I am sure that this partial brain dump is only a portion of what I have been able to digest and I hope that it provides you with a flavor what EduCon has done for my thinking around what education can be. I will be sure to process a more formal response once the conference is over.
In the meantime, have I left anything off the list?
Photo Credit: christopherl