Educators engage in professional learning.
During my EDUC 490 Practicum, I had the incredible opportunity to partake in the InspirED Convention. This day was full of learning and professional development. The keynote speaker, David Smith, did an excellent presentation of the importance of community within education. We learned about how our teaching and our learning can either make or break community within our classrooms and schools. This keynote was very thought provoking as it raised a lot of important questions that educators should be considering. The 2nd keynote (which took place after 2 sessions of choice), was a part 2 by David Smith on community within education. Although, instead of “big picture” and thought provoking questions, we dove into different strategies to help implement community into the daily processes within the classroom. We learned about how to design learning activities centred around community, and how community (or lack there of) can affect the learning setting as a whole. Both parts of this presentation were extremely powerful and provoked my own thinking on how I want to establish community in my classroom and create a community of learners.
The first session of choice that my CT and I decided to attend was “Culturally Responsive & Sustaining Pedagogies” by Jenn Skelding. In this session we were able to learn about different ways to respond to the diversity within the classroom, while maintaining equity. We learned about ways to use things such as stories and games within our teaching so we can reach all learners. After this session, the attendees and myself had a great discussion about other ways to ensure inclusivity within the classroom!
The second session of choice was “A Posture of Faithful Inclusion: Caring for a Diverse Student Population” by Darren Skypsma. This session was INCREDIBLE because it focused on the importance of inclusion within the classroom and how to live it out in a Christ-like way. There was a lot of group discussion on who may be considered an “other” within the classroom community and be on the outskirts, and how we can erase those social barriers and really enforce inclusion within the classroom!
This conference was filled with so much learning and knowledge from so many intelligent and inspiring people. I feel as though being part of this conference has demonstrated the professional standard because it was a day full of professional development and learning. I was able to learn so many new things about community and inclusion within the classroom and how to apply it to my educational career (and practicum). I feel as though it has added to my personal pedagogy as a teacher and has helped me refine what I truly believe in as an educator.
As I proceed to begin my next and final practicum (and career), I would love to continue to work on professional learning in other ways that aren’t just Professional Development conferences! I would love to learn about new ways to further my beliefs and knowledge to help within my future career!