Introduction
As thoughtful educators, we continually reflect on the ways we can we can guide our students navigate a time of rapid economic, societal and technological changes. We seek ways to create learning experiences that reflect as well as prepare our students for the realities of modern life. The challenge of providing modern learning experiences for our students asks us to create increased opportunities for inquiry-based, student-driven, and real-world learning experiences that excite and empower our students. This important work is what guides this year’s professional development as we collectively explore the essential question:
What could modern learning look like in the Mendon-Upton Regional School District?
For our first PD day we will begin to brainstorm a shared definition of modern learning through eight professional practice pathways. These pathways reflect a blend of both innovative and timeless teaching methods, where we hope to inspire future innovators, problem-seekers, global citizens, and passionate learners.
What could modern learning look like in the Mendon-Upton Regional School District?
For our first PD day we will begin to brainstorm a shared definition of modern learning through eight professional practice pathways. These pathways reflect a blend of both innovative and timeless teaching methods, where we hope to inspire future innovators, problem-seekers, global citizens, and passionate learners.
Goals
The goals for the August 29th PD Day are simple:
We hope participants will be:
1. Inspired for the 2017-2018 school year
2. Introduced to at least two innovative, relevant, and learner centered professional practices
3. Exposed to new global contexts for learning
4. Challenged to provide deeper learning for students
5. Provided with opportunities to choose areas of professional interest
6. Encouraged to take risks and have fun
We hope participants will be:
1. Inspired for the 2017-2018 school year
2. Introduced to at least two innovative, relevant, and learner centered professional practices
3. Exposed to new global contexts for learning
4. Challenged to provide deeper learning for students
5. Provided with opportunities to choose areas of professional interest
6. Encouraged to take risks and have fun
Norms
As we pursue our own learning about modern learning this year, we hope to develop ongoing and shared norms about our own learning. Here are some suggested norms to get us started in this journey of learning:
- Recognize that we are all learners (students, teachers, staff, parents, administrators, community members)
- Be open to new ideas
- Start with questions
- Take risks, make mistakes, and fail forward
- Assume the best
- Collaboration and sharing is key
- Have fun
Session Descriptions
The following is a brief overview of each of the sessions that will appear in the schedule for the day. To view the schedule, click on the Schedule tab to view times.
Keynote: Will Richardson will be providing a keynote to all faculty and staff in the auditorium from 8:00-9:30. He is a progressive speaker with over 20 years of experience in education, and an advocate for changing practice to adapt to a changing technological and global environment. He is certain to push us in our thinking about learning and how our students learn best in a modern context. To learn more about Will Richardson and resources that support his work please click on the Keynote tab.
Question & Answer Sessions with Will Richardson: We will have two follow-up opportunities for faculty and staff to have further discussions in a more informal setting about Will Richardson's keynote topics. We will separate the Q & A sessions into a first session for elementary faculty and staff and the second session will be for all secondary faculty and staff. These discussion sessions will take place in the auditorium.
Professional Practice Pathway Options: This year we will have time carved out across the professional development days for teachers and staff to have time for ongoing exploration, discovery, and investigation of engaging strategies that foster deeper student learning. Participants will choose from the following Professional Practice Pathways:
- Design Thinking
- Project-Based Learning
- Global Education
- Personalized Learning
- Genius Hour/20% Time
- Maker Education
- Connected Learning
- Blended Learning
To begin, on this opening professional development day participants will be provided with an option to learn about two professional practices. In addition to the two introductory mini-workshops, all of the professional practice pathway resources will be made available for all staff on the PD website. As follow-up to this opening day, we will provide time at future PD days for further exploration and collaboration on these topics. Finally, at the end of the year, we will have a Modern Learning Showcase on the May PD Day where participants will share what approaches they tried out this year, what went well, and what they would look to adapt in the future.
When groups are not in the Q & A Sessions with our keynote speaker, they can attend two mini-workshops to learn a little about 8 different professional practice approaches and how people are integrating them into their instructional practices and lesson design. We have a number of MURSD teachers who have tried out some of these approaches who will be sharing about their experiences.
What we expect people will notice is that many of the professional practice pathways overlap in some core principles such as:
- Increasing student voice, choice, and agency
- Engaging students in self-reflection
- Pursuit of challenging and meaningful problems
- Sharing learning with authentic audiences
- Incorporating technology to amplify learning experiences
- Sustained inquiry, creation, and application of key ideas and knowledge
- Providing students and faculty members opportunities to follow their passions
Professional Practice Playground: Calling this session a playground is very purposeful because it is time for you and your colleagues to explore and play with the ideas presented by the keynote, discussions, and professional practice pathway breakout sessions. This is unstructured time to collaborate, discover, and test out new ideas together. It is time for participants to reflect, think, and consider ways to innovate. We will have classroom locations identified for each of the pathways to help participants to meet an discuss their ideas and plans.
During this time participants should consider the following questions:
- What is one approach you might try out this year?
- What is a new idea that you are excited to explore further?
- What are some units or lessons that you can redesign and reimagine to integrate new ideas?
- What is something you have tried, which you want to adapt for this coming year?
Learning Smackdown: The concepts of smackdowns come from EdCamps where it is an opportunity for fast-paced sharing and networking. At the end of a day of learning, many participants volunteer to share what they learned, whether it was a new idea, tech tool, lesson strategy, or anything else they'd like to share with the group about engaged teaching and learning practices. Participants come prepared to give a quick 1 minute pitch of what they learned and share any pertinent information (resources, URL's, etc). The information shared will be added to an online shared document that everyone can access later. Think about the following questions:
"What idea challenged your thinking, created new meaning, or opened your mind to a new practice?"
"How will this day impact your tomorrow?"