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Saturday, March 15, 2014

#sol14 #celebratelu March 15 Smiling During a Superintendent's Conference Day?



Discover. Play. Build.“Give me a fish and I eat for a day.  Teach me to fish and I eat for a lifetime.” ~ Chinese Proverb

As I watched teachers busily engaged in building curriculum maps yesterday, images of Superintendents' Conference Days - old school style - flooded my mind!  

  • If you've been to a meeting where someone drones endlessly about something distantly connected to you life, but on very little day-to-day practical value to you, you know what I mean. 
  • If you've ever been to a conference where someone talked, and talked, and talked, and talked....you know what I mean!
  • If you've ever been at a meeting and spent time (or watched your friends, neighbors, colleagues) emailing, texting, Tweeting, Facebooking, Pinning, writing notes, correcting papers....or doodling, you know what I mean! 
The dread of those days, without kids smiling faces, when teachers who are usually on the prowl all day long are confined to a chair or a table for hours, was one of the few things teachers, on every level, agreed on - in the old school days!
Yet, yesterday, we had "one of those days" that really wasn't so bad; in fact, most considered it a good and productive day!   We used internet-based software and peer-based shared learning to organize our curriculum maps. We were busy, all of us, thinking about our teaching and students' learning, while learning to fish in a brand-new ocean!  
  • Our maps turned out to be beautiful (see the example below).
  • We will be able to find "fish" more readily, now that we have cleaned up and organized the "oceans" of papers and files that each of us had!  
  • Our fishing for ideas and activities will be easier thanks to technology! 
I'm confident "those" who wrote that ol' Chinese Proverb were smiling at our maps! 

9 comments:

Kathleen said...

Oh, how funny! I, too, had a PD day yesterday and truly could. Not reframe to be positive about it. My resentment was thick and heavy. I'm so glad you had a different experience. Have a great weekend!

drferreriblogspot.com said...

I tried to upload the photo again...hope it works this time.....

Kristi Lonheim said...

And I managed to avoid having to do some mapping yesterday! (The standards are not set so why do something we will have to redo later?) I am glad you had a positive and energizing experience. I love the tie in to finding the fish.

maria.selke said...

I love how you connected to your quote!

I tend to detest most inservice days - I'd rather be with the kids, and the things I'm asked to do often aren't directly applicable to MY teaching (I'm not a classroom teacher, but we often have to participate in the standard PD days).

Glad you had such a great time, and I loved the contrast between other "old school days" and this one.

Julie Johnson said...

It's nice to know that PD is moving forward. I am seeing similar things in our district. Thank goodness! It sounds like you had a very productive day.

Linda B said...

Our PD last week was everyone doing what was needed, no big meetings this time. We were all grateful! So glad yours was productive, Anita-always good to hear!

Michele Knott said...

Hee hee, oh yes, you've described those days well! I'm glad this one was a positive day! I'm sure the teachers are thrilled to have something that will help them move forward, as well!

Tara said...

PD days in my building are definitely still old school. Bu I love reading posts like yours that describe other, better PD worlds. I know it can be done!

Terje said...

Glad that you had a positive experience yesterday. I like how you turned the negative list around to an opposite picture.