Serendipitous learning happens every time I dip my toe into the Twitter stream. Although I never know what I'm going to discover, I know I'm going to learn something. Today, I found myself following tweets from Toronto where a literacy unconference was taking place. While teacher-learners around the globe have made time on their own to attend edcamps and other informal professional learning events, it came as a welcome surprise that this highly engaging professional learning was taking place during the school day!
Tweeting educators from the York Region DSB used the hashtag #litschool to share their learning with us, and to allow us to engage from a distance. On site, topics that would frame the day's learning were developed by the participants who soon had a schedule to choose from.
From a few storified tweets, you can sense the engagement of learners who were present both physically and virtually.
In an age where professional learning is often dictated from above, it is refreshing to see a district school board model risk-taking. By allowing a model of inquiry to be experienced first hand, there is an even greater chance that teachers will take steps towards bringing such engaging practices to their classrooms.
#nicemodel #wecandoit #letuslearn #giveuschoice
Followup reading: Is the PD Day Broken?
Monday, April 23, 2012
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