As teachers it can sometimes be difficult to find the time
to really dive in to learning or honing in on our practices. As a classroom teacher I always looked for
learning opportunities that fit the personal and professional goals I set for
myself. Because it is so difficult
sometimes to actually attend some of the conferences and workshops that I
wanted I have found several opportunities to learn on my own and at my own
pace.
Webinars through the Siemens STEM Academy
have been amazing. From finding ways to Put
the M into STEM to actually interacting with Danny Forster from “Build it Bigger” the Siemens
Academy has been a great
resource for my personal and professional growth. They also archive their webinars so you can
watch and learn in your own time and at your own paste. Click Here for direct access to the webinar
page.
Another great tool for learning is twitter. This to me has probably been one of the most
beneficial tools I have when it comes to learning. The twitter approach allows complete autonomy
in learning what you want when you want.
I simply follow folks in the science, technology and education
world. They provide links and
ideas. Those that interest me I read and
learn, those that don’t I simply skip.
When I find items of interest I tweet those out. This method of learning for me has been very
beneficial but also very fun. To find a
list of educators to follow, Click here.
Sometimes finding the time to learn during the school year
can be quite difficult. I have a rule
for summer time learning. If I am going
to take my time to participate, It’s going to be great. In the past 2 summers I have had 2 great
opportunities that are currently accepting applications.
In 2010 I was a Siemen’s STEM Institute Fellow. This fellowship included a trip to Washington, DC to spend
time at Discovery Communication’s US headquarters. The week was full of fun, collaboration, fun,
inspiration and more fun. We had the
opportunity to have conversation with the White House’s Director of Science and
Technology, Dr. John Holdren and many
other leaders from various science and education department and agencies. We participated in a architecture tour of DC
led by Danny Forster and had lots of mini workshops on Web 2.0 tools and their
uses in education. To top it all off it was Shark Week on Discovery. This is an incredible
and fun opportunity whose deadline is fast approaching. February 9th
In the summer of 2011 I was a Kenan Fellow through the Kenan Institute for Science and Mathematics.
The general gist of a Kenan fellowship is the fellow is submerged in to a
real world or research entity to learn current skills and research. The end product is to create lessons to share
with other teachers around the world that will ready our students for the real world.
This fellowship comes with real world experience as well as top notch
professional development. Their
development is based around inquiry based learning, goal setting, how to become
a powerful presenter, and engineering principles. The deadline for this application process is January
23.
Learning in our industry is a necessity. I still hold to the belief that our learning
can be fun also.
Photos used through Creative Commons Permissions
