Feeling a bit flat?
Looking to boost your enthusiasm for teaching?
What some some quick ideas to boost your lessons?
Want to find answers to those nagging questions?
Do have a few hours free?
Are you prepared for no expensive conference fees?
Do I have a deal for you - attend a teachmeet! (In Australia - In Sydney)
I attended the Australian Curriculum Maths Teachmeet #tmACmaths on Thursday 1 August at the @phm Powerhouse Museum.
Wow, what another amazing teachmeet; I walked away feeling energised! I had new resources to follow up, I discovered ideas I didn't know about and had material I could try out in my class the next day. I heard over 20 presenters talking about their passions and what is working in their classrooms. So many ideas and such diversity, in just 2 hours. It was great opportunity to meet face-2-face teachers from my twitter pln and meet and chat with teachers from all backgrounds and stages of their careers.
So what was the problem?
It was a great turnout (there were over 70 participants), but why was the room not packed? Why was the "Sorry we're full" sign not up on the door?
What was on offer?
Free! Yes, that's right, free, professional development. At the powerhouse museum, with amazingly talented and engaging presenters. With ideas and material to take away.
Why wasn't the room full?
I don't think most teachers knew about it, or how good it would be.
Why don't they know about teachmeets?
Teachmeets are mostly advertised through social media, such as twitter and Facebook. Unfortunately, I don't think social media is mainstream yet in education. So teachers are just not hearing about them, nor realising the worth of the events. The vast majority of teachers will not read this blog, nor the tweets about this blog that some of you will make after reading it (thank you). :)
So, what do we do?
Like @Simonborgert talked about in his presentations, the teachers on twitter and those attending teachmeets are often lone nutters (See Leadership Lessons from Dancing guy) . If we keep at it, keep attending, keep talking it up, teachers will eventually come on board and make it mainstream. We just have to keep on dancing, to the teachmeet tune.
I would love to see the day, when the "full house" sign is up at every teachmeet.