First…a disclaimer: I am on a major professional development binge at the moment. There are just so many free (and appropriately priced) online conferences, webinars, and events happening—it is a petri dish of opportunities! I feel as though something new pops up in my Twitter feed every day.
On a side note: Susan Barber was one of the committee members who organized the conference and she also runs a site called AP Lit Help. If you are an AP Lit teacher, I can’t recommend this site enough.
Through this series of posts, I will explore a multitude of topics that this slow conference stimulated and I will be connecting it to with some additional reading/research. Consider it a meta-analysis of sorts—sorting through all the ideas to try and discover trends and asking questions about how it related to the current educational context.
Topics will include:
- A response to: “Literacy Teaching in Turbulent Times” Webinar by ILA
- How do I show up as a teacher and why does it matter?
- A hinge moment—the opportunity to make critical shifts in pedagogy.
- Relevancy of curriculum—how important is it?
- The reading brain in a digital world.
- Building community in a face-to-face and digital context.
- What not to teach?
- Flipped classrooms and remote learning.
It is my intention that each post will (1) stimulate some thinking and (2) provide a takeaway (or two) that can be used in your personal and/or professional life.
A final thought:
One of the overarching messages of this conference (and other webinars I have been a part of recently) was this:
Educators are in a unique position to pause, to reassess, and then to take action to shift the current context of teaching and learning.
As educators, this pandemic has offered us an opportunity and, in fact, we have the responsibility, to disrupt the norm. Let’s not take this moment for granted. Join me in discovering how we can create positive disruptions, as well as more inclusive and joy-filled experiences for our students.
Sincerely,
Kristin Bond
Read More. Write More. 