L&L21C – day 2

The energy around the hotel was electric today, maybe even moreso than Day 1.  People were energized by David Warlick‘s keynote to open Day 1, and the afternoon of sharing and celebration of some amazing collaborative ideas revved up the engines.

David’s second keynote this morning was just as inspiring. His message centered on the changing nature of information and how that has affected all global systems, and then explored how schools needed to adapt to prepare students for that world.  Again, the audience was captive…taking it all in.  For most, this was a revelation!  Many had never had any exposure to this type of message, and it hit hard and fast.

After divided breakouts this afternoon, people left to drive home – tired but changed!  They came seeking, they left with a passion and charge to seek ways to change their classrooms.  The talk had changed.  A whole new vocabulary was being spoken.  The conversations to start change were started.  They will continue.

I am tired.  I get one last opportunity to thank David in the morning as I take him to the airport.  But first, we have one last special stop…the Boyce Farmer’s Market!  It’s a Saturday staple in our town…I know he’ll love it!

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L&L21C – Day Two!

It is now Day 2…breakfast is over (a fine spread…kudos to the Crowne Plaza)…and we are off and running…

David is starting…he’s speaking on Flat World & Flat Classrooms…he’s introducing the concepts of the flat world, and telling the story of his introduction to the flat world through an interaction with students in Iceland…

– The creative arts will be just as important (esp economically) in the 21st century…

– we need to teach our kids to be information artisans…

– flat world really picked up with the creation of Google…relevancy – readers determined importance of web page, different shape of information

-blogs are important – in time of rapid change, answers to new questions will often come from “regular” people who have no particular expertise in an area…outside the box…

How does this relate to our classrooms? …as teachers we need to teach students as they are, not as we want them to be…

It’s not about the technology…it’s about the conversations that we can have with our students and with each other…

Wow…a great presentation!!!

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L&L21C Conference – Day One

Day one is in the books – and it was everything that I could have imagined and more. Over 220 teachers from every corner of the province, together in one place for the first time. David Warlick was rivoting, holding their attention for a full hour and a half…nobody budged for fear of missing something. He did his Literacy and Learning in the 21st Century presentation, focusing on how to develop the critical literacy skills for the next century.

The afternoon was also amazing – a good old fashioned poster session, but with a techno twist. Innovative teachers from all over the province who had something imaginative to share in the way of technology and learning set up in a ballroom at the hotel and shared, shared, shared. What an amazing group of teachers and ideas. I know I have many ideas flowing out of that for our schools next year.

Then, to top it all off, David joined me and my 35 pre-service teachers as he spoke to my ED4862 class at the University of New Brunswick. Needless to say, they gained more from David in an hour thatn they will get from me in 10 weeks. I was honored for David to volunteer his time and, judging from the student responses on their reflective blogs after class, they were floored!

Day two is up…in 20 minutes!

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