{"id":994,"date":"2013-03-03T22:21:32","date_gmt":"2013-03-04T06:21:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/?p=994"},"modified":"2013-03-03T22:21:32","modified_gmt":"2013-03-04T06:21:32","slug":"our-participant-driven-unconference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/innovativelearningdesigns.ca\/?p=994","title":{"rendered":"Our Participant Driven Unconference"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>\u201cIt\u2019s all about passion. If you are bored teaching what you are teaching, change.\u201d
\nTeacher<\/p>\n

There were awkward moments. Like when we were just starting the morning and an educator whispered to me, \u201cThis is out of my comfort zone.\u201d Things that are new and different from our regular experience can be uncomfortable. This is true. There were also amazing moments. The dialogue was rich, diverse, challenging and informative. \u00a0Teachers described heir journey. They spoke about their practice and how it was changing. People shared their challenges, the struggles and joys of teaching, and their hopes for their students. And people connected to the stories and to each other because it is about the relationships.<\/p>\n

Last month our district organized our second-ever EdCamp Unconference. We invited teams from forty of our Innovative Learning Designs (Phase 2) schools. About 150 attended and when I asked at the start of the morning how many had ever attended an EdCamp, only four people (one of which was me), put up their hand. EdCamp is referred to as an \u201cunconference.\u201d It is a structure for \u201cpromoting organic, participant\u2013driven professional development.\u201d (See here<\/a>). You can find out more about it on Wikipedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I think this video captures some of the spirit of the day:<\/p>\n