A little over a week ago, 250 educators from all over North America came to Science Leadership Academy for EduCon 2.0. The name of the conference itself was a play on words, as we wanted the conference to be about the conversations that people could have, not the presentations we usually see at conventions.
It was three incredible days where many folks who regularly read each other's words online came together face to face to talk about the future of schools, about how we could make our schools better, and about how we can marry the tools at our disposal to progressive pedagogy.
The conference also featured a great deal of student voice. From the SLA students, to twitter-student Arthus to Meg Peters and Chris Jankowski who presented with their parents, students lent their voices to the conversations, making sure that as the adults talked about how schools needed to change, we had their perspectives in the conversation as well.
And I don't know... but maybe we are really overthinking some of the school reform stuff. Maybe the best thing we can do is make our profession transparent... talk about what works -- and what doesn't. Structure some great, honest conversations and then take the time to ask ourselves -- "Now what?"
This may be heresy in the era of corporate-fueled education and the best curriculum money can buy, but I still believe in teachers. I still believe we need to take the time to show our teachers a vision of what's possible and then do everything we can to help them get there. If we could take one message from our weekend conference without an exhibit floor, I'd hope that's what we all take away.
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