Anyone involved in public education knows that summers are full of opportunities for educators to embrace professional learning. Educators and leaders are surrounded with many avenues to model life-long learning. No longer do we have to wait for PD to come to us. This year I had the opportunity to connect and grow my PLN for an entire two months. For the first time in five years, I was not enrolled in graduate courses or completing a dissertation, free to just learn about any topic of interest and connect. I attended multiple conferences to include Texas ASCD Ignite, ISTE, Denton’s TIA, and immersed myself with exploring content in multiple museums, even visiting the Library of Congress to research the upcoming solar eclipse. Certain themes emerged this summer during my adventure.
Creativity Matters
With so many makerspace, STEM, and STEAM apps, and instructional approaches available to organizations and teachers, choices and program approaches can become overwhelming. It was exciting to see so many great project-based learning approaches centered around storytelling. Many schools are combining storytelling with gaming. For example, it was cool to see how students really engaged with Minecrafting a Colonial City. I liked the following process used toward incorporating digital storytelling with core curriculum.
Lewisville ISD has incorporated a mobile transportation lab, a collaborative unit, serving 70 libraries and STEAM labs. This provides an introduction to educators and students toward creative learning technology approaches. I visited NASA’s STEM Innovation Lab at Goddard Space Center and I was inspired by the many uses of the 3D printer. Learners of all ages were inspired to learn using 3D printed models, which encourages me to continue producing curriculum and 3D printing training programs.
Transparency Matters
Eric Schlesinger always inspires. He recently provided a keynote at Denton TIA in which he reminded us that transparency really does matter. I have been a heavy user at times of social media, blogging, and at times have had to unplug. Often those whom are very plugged in are criticized for bragging. However, Eric reminds us that branding your story isn’t only ok, it is necessary toward being transparent and building trust. In fact, telling your story connects learning to stakeholders. He reminded us of the importance of being transparent and consistent with our posts. During the last two years, I had dropped my professional blog posts. After hearing him speak last week, I decided to pick up my blog and begin consistently posting once a week. Hopefully, this exercise will increase my ability to communicate digital learning and cognitive science approaches to all stakeholders. Change does not come from opinions. Change is brought about by the examples we set and our reactions toward others.
Community Matters
It is important to remember that the teacher makes the difference! It was very inspiring to see how teachers at WELD Re-4 School District deliver a creative conference in which students, business leaders, and educators provide professional learning sessions to the entire community. A result of this program included a new scholarship program, innovations scholarships, which are provided toward students who demonstrate quality interactive student showcases.
The final takeaway for this summer is that true learning is FUN! I am very grateful to have had this opportunity to learn and connect with so many around the world. This is going to be an amazing school year!
Dr. Jennifer Miller-Ray 