
[Side note: If you don't already follow these ladies' work - please do. They are amazing educators from whom I learn on a regular basis!]
We presented a session on how we've worked together to redefine teaching and learning at our school. While the presentation itself was rewarding, the most amazing takeaway for me was the reminder that the biggest contributor to our school's EdTech transformation was teacher teamwork. The fact that we have a group of open minded and creative teachers who are all excited to work together and learn from one another is what allows our iPad initiative to grow and be successful. I'm so thankful to have been - and to continue to be - a part of this great team.
So as we floated on cloud 9 onto our plane, accompanied by the great Sue Gorman, we didn't let the end of the conference stop our collaboration and brainstorming. Autumn, Sue and I ended up sitting next to each other and as the plane took off, so began 2 solid hours of edtech collusion. Autumn foolishly thought that she'd get a nap. Little did she know that instead we'd birth the idea for a new conference.
Around 10,000 feet, we all began to discuss the pros and cons of the past few conferences we'd attended. We all agreed that we greatly value meeting new educators and discussing the good gospel that is innovative technology use. And yet we also lamented that we learn about a myriad of new tools, websites, tricks and apps at these conferences only to go back to the "real world" and have little to no time (usually the latter) to ever master or even simply explore any of it. For me, they usually end of in my "to explore" Google task list.
Thus the idea of #PLAYDATE13 was born. I originally wanted to call it "ExploriCON" but as the nature of Autumn's and my relationship goes, we ping ponged ideas off each other until we got a shinier version of this original thought. First Autumn came up with PLAY- People Learning & Asking "Y". Then Sue joined in the acronym fun and suggested adding "DATE". Autumn found a great acronym for that - Digital Age Technology Exploration. And so PLAYDATE came about. After coming up with a catchy moniker, together we refined the idea to meet some of our unaddressed professional learning needs and leverage best practices we'd seen at other conferences. We're going to be pulling in the rest of our NTA 1:1 pilot team - Anita and Holly - as well as some other thought leaders in the area with whom we've been collaborating closely.
If this seems like the model of learning that is right for you - or you just have some apps, programs, tools or websites you've always wanted to learn more about (Evernote? Google Sites? iMovie? Apple Configurator? Twitter? Pinterest?) - then check out this site for more info and to sign up for updates.
PLAYDATE 2013: Saturday 2-9-2013
Hi,
ReplyDeleteits really nice post. i apprentice for your post. thanks for shearing it with us. keep it up.
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The collaborative soup that is always simmering at National Teachers Academy is inspiring. PLAY DATE is a brilliant idea! I'm there to support in any way.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kevin! Glad you're in! :) We'll be happy to see you there!
DeleteAmazing conversations and ideas blossom at higher altitudes. Come to denver!
ReplyDeleteSo excited to be on board with #PLAYDATE13 Love it!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your talk at ICE2013. I want to know more about how to become a google and apple certified teacher. Can you blog about that?
ReplyDeleteHi Sonjanita - it's not really a blog post.. more just trying and going for it! The North American ADE application window has passed and won't be back until late 2014 - maybe November or December. Check http://www.apple.com/education/apple-distinguished-educator/ around then for the application process.
DeleteFor Google Certified Teacher, that is more frequent. The window has also passed for this round (it's a global process, so anyone can apply). However, there will probably be another round in the next several months, so keep you eye on this site: http://www.google.com/edu/teachers/google-teacher-academy.html
Good luck :)!
Just stumbled upon your PLAYDATE concept. Love it! How many people came to your first one? Is there a certain number of participants that works best?
DeleteIt really just has to do with the learning group sizes. We around 15-25 per 'play room' was good. We had around 100 the first time and it nice, but could have gone larger or smaller and been okay too! The main goal keeping it exploration driven and not presenter led. We have videos about it on our site now... Bit.ly/playdaye14
DeleteOops! Bit.ly/playdate14
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