It’s early…I am sitting in the cafeteria at the high school I work with. Teachers are beginning to arrive, but it’s not the familiar faces I am used to seeing. Also, there will be no students here today, except for those few who have volunteered to be gophers and tech crew.

Today is Middle Level Council, where all the middle school teachers in the province (over 1500 of them!) gather together for a professional development day. They will share stories and attend a variety of sessions. The high school teachers meet in another location, the elementary teachers yet another. It is all kind of exciting, but I am still a bit disappointed.

Despite the resounding success and buzz surrounding the Literacy and Learning Conference just over a month ago, the sessions planned for today lack a real focus on 21st century visions. A quick perusal of the program shows only a handful of the almost 100 sessions with any focus on technology, and only three have a focus on web 2.0 – and two of those are led my me!

It is slightly disappointing that – in a province where every teacher has been given a laptop, over 30 schools are piloting 1:1 and most schools have wireless – the role of technology in redefining the way we learn has not been highlighted more. I can’t blame the organizers because teachers defined the agenda by offering their expertise.

I guess we still have a ways to go to refocus the conversations. Maybe I’ll be suprised today and other conversations will erupt.

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