Cohort 21’s second F2F session at BSS was a great success. As members began to fill the room from different parts of the province, the excitement began to build, as did the sense of community. The three Google Hangout sessions that we had between our first F2F and this, seemed to really bring people together, as has the excellent work of the Cohort 21 community posting blogs, commenting on blogs, contributing to Diigo, and tweeting about their experiences, their trepidation, and their successes.
Using a data-rich approach, the sessions were created to help the members build their efficacy around the Cohort 21 toolkit: WordPress, Twitter, Diigo and Google+. We even attempted a Google Hangout within the BSS library to show people the power of this tool, as well as its ease. It is a tool that is growing in its application both as a professional development tool, and as a classroom tool.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3xQt6clFmY[/youtube]
It’s hard to believe all the things that will happen between this session and our next one in January (no doubt another round of report cards for the teachers, the winter holidays, and all that that brings in terms of school commitments, and family commitments), but the commitment that the members have shown to this community is second-to-none. After completing the day’s agenda, (Click HERE to see the deck from the day) we went into overtime. Asking teachers to leave a Saturday Professional Development session is a great honour!
Between now and our next F2F, the Cohort will be:
1) Moonshot Thinking: Blogging about their action plan – what areas do they want to deepen their understanding of, and/or what tools do they want to integrate into their classroom and for what purpose
2) Collaboratively Researching: they will be diligent in posting articles of interest to our Diigo page and using tags to help us filter through the articles that might pertain to our areas of interest
3) Discussing with their curriculum leader how they can align their action plan with that of their schools’ goals
4) Building Community by commenting on, tweeting with/to, and “Hangning Out” (Google-style) with members to continue the important conversations and support that will help drive the Cohort forward
We can’t wait!
Best,
Cohort Team
