On our way- Courtney Steers and I head to Boston
After a last minute flight change we headed first to Atlanta Georgia and then arrived after midnight in snowy Boston ready for an action packed weekend of professional development, strategic networking and connecting!
We flew in a day early to fit some sightseeing in before the Summit
We are Ready to Get Started!
The evening started with a reception sponsored by the Nation Board for Professional Teaching Standards and America Achieves. We heard from Kisha Davis-Caldwell- Director NBPTS, Tami Fitzgerald- Teaching Ambassador Fellow, US Department of Education & Ruthanne Buck- Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. We then did a speed round of meeting presenters, critical friends and supporter organizations. We were lucky enough to meet Crystal Gonzales-Associate Program Officer
with Helmsley Charitable Trust who helps fund America Achieves which in turn supports The Michigan Educator Voice Fellowship that I am part of. We shut down the reception and then moved to share dinner and talked about education until well past 11pm. What a way to start the Summit!
with Helmsley Charitable Trust who helps fund America Achieves which in turn supports The Michigan Educator Voice Fellowship that I am part of. We shut down the reception and then moved to share dinner and talked about education until well past 11pm. What a way to start the Summit!
The Work Begins...
Saturday began with a wonderful breakfast and opening & conference overview by Kisha Davis-Caldwell, Mike Lee and Maddie Fennell. We were advised on how to develop our logic model and deliver our pitch by Emily Davis, Lori Nazareno and Terry Kaldhusdal. We received the background information that we would use after lunch to start developing our own ideas into a Logic Model. Before this step, we enjoyed a wonderful lunch of New England food including Ritz cracker encrusted cod, clam chowder and Boston Creme Pie to name only a few items. During lunch we heard from Ruthanne Buck- Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. We also listened to Megan Allen-2010 Florida Department of Education/Macy's Teacher of the Year share her presentation Flat Notes, Dancing Sharks and Tom Brady- What we can Learn About Teacher Leadership from the Super Bowl. "It's Time to take back public education. We owe it to our students." The rest of the afternoon was spent working with our Critical Friends who helped us think through our ideas and start our Logic Model. We also participated in a Think Tank which had a member of the US Department of Ed in each group to further develop our idea. The late afternoon was spent in workshops with topics on Collaborating with administrators, developing funding resources, leading from the front of the classroom and policy change. We finished up the day at 6pm with tired brains but an incredible day of idea development.
Completing our Logic Model- Now the work really begins...
Sunday began at 7:30am with another delicious breakfast and then we got to work rotating around during a Gallery Walk of the Logic Models to see all the incredible ideas and work that participants were working on. We gave each other feedback by adding sticky notes on each Logic Model to help push their thinking even more. We had another hour to work with our Critical Friends reviewing the feedback we had been given. We then listened to the last presentation on Ladders of Leadership- Leading through Advocacy- Paul Tritter Director of Professional Learning: Boston Teacher's Union; Leading Through Professional Growth- Shakera Walker- Director of Teacher Development: Boston Public Schools (and our Critical Friend!) and Leading from the Classroom- Genevieve DeBose, NBCT. What an incredible send off of inspiration and encouragement to go back to our districts and make a difference and change!
What is our story and who are we going to tell?
We all have a story about the day in and day out job of educating our students who come to school with many factors that effect their learning. We have no control over many of those issues but when they are in our classrooms we do! I have seen incredible things out of my students when my expectations were heightened due to the implementation of Common Core State Standards. Yes, for many of my students these standards may be lofty but to raise the bar and set our sights on higher expectations can only result in some incredible and amazing things!
I went to Boston with an idea~I had so many thoughts and information that I have gathered for the past 4 years of piloting the iPads swirling around in my mind. I knew that I wanted to do something with all this information but was not sure where to begin. This is where the Boston Summit lent such a helping hand. By spending a full weekend solely focused on the process of thinking through our idea and formulating a plan was incredible. Half of the time I think many of us felt a bit brain fatigued and spent but how else could so much incredible networking and planning be accomplished? We walked away with a rationale for our idea, inputs, outcomes and a set of steps to accomplish in 30 days, 60 days and 90 days.
I have already mostly completed my 30 day plan and have my logic model hanging in my bedroom to frequently check. I look forward to seeing where this plan takes me in the goal of better serving my district, fellow teachers and students. I look forward to working on a Professional Development Site and Sessions. I plan to share how to use iPads as a tool to differentiate, increase student engagement and push Higher Level Thinking Skills.
I went to Boston with an idea~I had so many thoughts and information that I have gathered for the past 4 years of piloting the iPads swirling around in my mind. I knew that I wanted to do something with all this information but was not sure where to begin. This is where the Boston Summit lent such a helping hand. By spending a full weekend solely focused on the process of thinking through our idea and formulating a plan was incredible. Half of the time I think many of us felt a bit brain fatigued and spent but how else could so much incredible networking and planning be accomplished? We walked away with a rationale for our idea, inputs, outcomes and a set of steps to accomplish in 30 days, 60 days and 90 days.
I have already mostly completed my 30 day plan and have my logic model hanging in my bedroom to frequently check. I look forward to seeing where this plan takes me in the goal of better serving my district, fellow teachers and students. I look forward to working on a Professional Development Site and Sessions. I plan to share how to use iPads as a tool to differentiate, increase student engagement and push Higher Level Thinking Skills.