Cohort 21 is a unique professional development opportunity open to teachers and school leaders who are seeking to build a learning network amongst CIS Ontario member schools. The Cohort 21 community will be built on a foundation of collaboration and innovation and together, will investigate and refine 21st century teaching and learning best practices through the rich experience of “learning by doing”.
It’s taken me a good night’s sleep to gather my thoughts from yesterday’s first Face to Face session with this year’s Cohort 21 group. What an exciting, whirlwind of a day, packed with information and ideas – it’s hard to stop thinking about all the possibilities presented at yesterday’s session. Of course I saw so many ideas that I thought “Wow, that would be neat to do on Monday morning” but of course, these things require time. So I am grateful for the year-long aspect of this “project” / undertaking though, obviously, being a teacher is also being a life-long learner. You never stop learning in order to better your practice.
Even though I was familiar with a number of the tools we learned about (Twitter and Word Press in particular) using them for a different purpose than my food blog places me firmly back at square one (as in, hardly any followers, and learning my way around a new Word Press theme) which sometimes feels like a tricky place to be but it’s good to be challenged and it’s especially good to sometimes feel a little like our students must feel every day – a little overwhelmed and confused and needing to work hard to understand what’s going on. Yesterday was a good reminder of what it’s like to be a learner again. It was a little scary but I’m pleased to be on this journey with so many like-minded souls. I am sure together we will find our way!
My two big takeaways from yesterday in terms of practical “stuff”? Google Chrome and Diigo. I’m excited to see what a powerful browser Chrome is and all the possibilities it affords and Diigo looks to be exactly the tool I have been looking for to bookmark and save articles of interest all in one place. These are tools that I feel can really help my own productivity as a teacher which is a great place to start when you are embarking on a journey of discovery like Cohort 21.
So glad you joined Cohort 21! Looking forward to your posts.
Mardi, it was awesome to meet you yesterday and be able to learn from you. The power of something like Cohort21 is really being able to connect and grow with other engage and likeminded professionals.
Also, I’m pumped to start reading your food blog!
Celeste it was great to meet you too. As I said in one of the smaller group discussions, my ideal PLN is half online and half in person so that’s why Cohort 21 appeals to me so much. As a food blogger, it was not until I started to go to conferences with other food bloggers that I realised how much you miss if ALL your connecting takes place online. There’s so much to be said for in real life connections.
Good to meet you, Mardi! Amen on the Google Chrome front. I’d heard mixed reviews about it but the sessions on Saturday really won me over. Speaking of things that win me over, I’m looking forward to checking out your food blog!
Sandy it was so nice to meet you as well – great that there are so many French teachers in this year’s Cohort! Looking forward to collaborating this year (and beyond!).
Hi Mardi,
Thanks for this blog post Mardi. I can’t help but think that you are putting yourself in the position of our students who are familiar with many digital tools, but for totally different purposes (i.e. not for learning!). I can see right away that you are leveraging TAGS, and CATEGORIES on this blog, which is great! I am hoping that because you are familiar with the tools, that you can start to reach out to Sandy, Jen, and past Cohort member Derek Doucet, and see what tools they are using and what success they have had with them.
Here is one of Derek’s blog posts that you might be interested in: http://cohort21.com/derekdoucet/2013/03/08/personalized-learning-and-student-feedback/
Great start, and I look foward to more,
garth.
Thanks Garth for all your hard work and for this comment. I am pumped to be in an environment with so many people who are interested in what I do. I just read Derek’s post and it sounds very interesting – my challenge is that I work with very beginning language students so for me the technology has to be a secondary concern until they have a solid level of French and can communicate exclusively (or more or less) in French about a wide range of topics. My Grades 3 and 4 will be working on iPad project this terms (I’ll be building on a TARGET action research project) and my Grade 5s and 6s will work on other projects involving technology that I hope to better through my involvement with Cohort 21!
Mardi,
Your Cohort experience can be as classroom focused as you like. Becoming a “networked educator” and tapping into the global FSL community can be you focus here as well. As you said technology needs to “fit a need” and in a class of beginning language students the fit has to be right. There is no pressure here to make “tech fit”. In fact it is that critical lens that we want to develop as well as plug you into all the other amazing FSL learning happening in CIS Ontario schools and beyond.
Justin
Thanks Justin, I guess I am getting my head wrapped around the fact that *this* is “enough”. Actually it’s more than enough. I’m definitely looking forward to examining my classroom and professional practice with technology and learning this year with my PLN in and beyond Cohort 21.