Once again, it has been a full week. I have done two presentations to the class via zoom which were nerve-wracking. I also had a couple of smaller assignments to complete but they still amounted to nearly two thousand words and I normally only produce about five hundred good words a day. I have always admired people that could pump out a ten-page essay in one night. I will never be that person.
I am not sure if I have mentioned this in a previous blog post, but I have never been a student that used an agenda. I have always seemed to manage without one. And up until this November, I had managed without one. Once November hit, I started feeling like I was in over my head. And rightly so, after I sat down and created a due date calendar, I discovered that I have 13 different due dates this month. My mind immediately went to that scene in Jurassic Park where Samuel L. Jackson tells everyone to “hold onto [their] butts” as he turns off the power in the park.
Last week I attended the TechEd camp and thoroughly enjoyed it. I only partook in two of the breakout rooms but that was because they were so darn interesting. The first discussion I joined talked about group work and whether group projects were an effective learning tool. After some initial hesitation and reluctance to speak from the people in the breakout group, the conversation became engaging and reflective. Nearly every member had a story or idea to share. It kind of surprised me how much people wanted to share and how respectful everyone was of one another’s speaking time. I guess I imagined it would have gone more like the group projects I have been a part of where one person kind of carries the conversation and ignores suggestions that do not echo theirs. People were encouraging, supportive, and insightful, and did so with that almost annoying level of Canadian politeness.
The other discussion I joined was on Indigenous knowledge and how to implement these concepts in a classroom. While I was only in this breakout room for about fifteen minutes, I was immediately drawn into the conversation. I was also given some great resources that I have had a chance to peruse over the reading break. All in all, I was quite impressed with the TechEd Camp and its fluidity. I will for sure look to use this in my future classes.
Until next week!