Open Your Doors: Cohort 21 in Review

The first year of Cohort 21 officially came to a close April 27^th at Royal St. George’s College. The final face-to-face provided time for sharing of Action Plans and provided a venue for a year-in-review forum.

Members of the Cohort presented their projects in informal roundtable discussions, and provided links to their action plan steps and resources for those who wanted to dig a little deeper into the various topics.   Some highlight’s include A Beginner’s Guide to Flipping your Classroom, Merits of VoiceThread in the Classroom, and bigger picture explorations like how technology can be leveraged to meet strategic plan goals of a school.  My Action Plan explored personalized learning in the English classroom and the student voice in curriculum design via Student Blogging.   This Prezi provides is a brief overview of the project.  Please click here for a deeper exploration and to access student blogs. 

My biggest takeaway from Cohort 21 this year, is the community that has been forged through collective research, sharing, and collaboration on projects.  A professional learning network quickly emerged from our first face-to-face in October.  Teachers from across the CIS Ontario community came together to share an authentic and diverse array of perspectives and expertise.  Librarians, elementary French teachers, Upper School English teachers, and leaders in Instructional Technologies came to the table to explore and debate the future of education in Ontario in 21^st century schools.

By opening our doors and sharing what was happening in our classrooms, colleagues became valuable resources and allies.  Their support was vital to our learning and professional growth.

Cohort 21 was a tremendous opportunity and I recommend it to anyone who is looking to enhance their teaching and learning practices and who is willing to take risks in and outside of the classroom.    For more information on Cohort 21, please click here.