Like many fortunate educators in Ontario, I am starting this week on a high after the amazing learning opportunity last week at On The Rise K-12.
Many thanks to my colleagues at eLO, Sharon Korpan and Bea Meglio, who took on the challenge of leading the organization of the event. A huge round of applause to the conference committee who worked tirelessly in addition to their regular endless days to ensure everything was in place for exceptional learning opportunities: Teresa Stevenson, Stacey Wallwin, Peter Anello, Joey Bedard, Marci Brennan, Jo-Anne Bryant, Rene Cote, Lorenzo DiCerbo, Regan Dore-Anderson, Carrie Huffman, Katie Long, Christine Mills, Jennifer Paziuk, Jackie Pilon-Waller, Michael Redfearn, Tim Robinson, Allison Slack.
Special thanks to David Truss, School Leader of iHub, the winner of the 2015 Ken Spencer Award for innovation in education, who travelled from British Columbia to share with us. Dave had a beautiful way of phrasing the idea of school as blended, blurred and braided with community, and he models this meticulously through sharing ideas that are expanded more fully in his blog.
But most importantly, I want to recognize the educators who realized that their innovative work was important, and who had the courage to fill out the proposal, work with conference organizers, spend countless hours perfecting their presentation, and then arrive and share with others.
This is hard work. This is scary work.
But I think, too, that audiences have changed. As Ontario educators, we know that we have pockets of great practice. We know that our best practice is only best because it’s where we are now in our thinking. We are always considering what our next practice will be. We know that we can’t learn that unless others share, so we have become more appreciative of those who are courageous, and we understand the power of sharing.
You are what you share.
Let’s be sure we continue to nurture those with the courage to share. Let’s create the conditions that empower our innovative practitioners to spread their ideas.
What innovative practice have you seen?
How will you support that educator to share with others?
What’s your next?
I love the line “You are what you share.” And love how technology is making sharing so much easier, even for introverts who may not be comfortable speaking at a conference but find it much easier to tweet about it. Thanks for sharing the inspiration!