Written by My last blog post (updated this week with the most recent results of my Action Plan) had an intentional “to be continued” feel to it. I’m not ready for this experience to end, so I’m a bit reticent to wax poetic here about what a great experience it’s been as if it’s all over!
I’ve prepared my first-ever basic Prezi for tomorrow’s face-to-face with which I plan to present my big takeaways from this PD adventure we’ve had together since October. I can’t wait to hear about what everyone has been up to since our last meeting.
Cohort 21 came to life at the perfect time in my teaching career. I had just taken on a teaching position and leadership role as Head of Modern Languages at a new school. I joined a group of highly motivated second language teachers who have developed excellent programs yet continue to seek to improve their practice. This followed two maternity leaves in the past four years. During my time away from teaching, I did a lot of reading about best practices in 21st century education (can you believe that none of it was through twitter?!) I was ready to test the theories and expert opinions I’d been reading about in the classroom.
I don’t remember what I was expecting prior to the first Cohort 21 face-to-face meeting. I do remember coming away feeling like I’d been exposed to more education and PD-related technology than the last 5 years combined! Then the greatest thing happened: the Cohort 21 experience lasted throughout the ENTIRE school year. New ideas that developed from discussions, Garth and Justin’s carefully curated face-to-face content, and members’ blog updates and tweets were allowed to percolate until it was the right time to put them into action. But instead of some distant memory of a faraway conference, those members were right there to challenge my thinking, inspire new ideas and motivate me to dive in and try new things. I’ve been humbled by the amazing things going on in others’ classrooms and feel honoured to be part of this group.
I’m excited to see where this goes next year and will definitely be encouraging other faculty members to join the new Cohort in 2013-14. I look forward to connecting in the future in person, on twitter and through the blogs!