From Teacher to Learner: A Catalyst for Re-Imaging Schools
[email protected]
@jvbevacqua#teacher2learner
Proud husband and father
Im long time suffering Canucks fan. When I take to the time to
be present and open to my children they continue to provide the
wisdom and insight I need as an educator and human beingIve been a
professional educator for 18 years from the moment I entered the
profession weve been talking about the role of technology.
Sometimes I catch myself getting a little frustrated.
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I am passionate about learning
I am passionate about educating the whole child - heard, heart,
body and soul
I believe every child is unique
Schools need lean in and adapt to students not the other way
around
Students are my greatest of inspiration
Currently an associate superintendent - my passion for students
and teachers and their learning is taking me back to the school
level next as principal of Vancouver College
Teachers make the biggest impact on schools and students not
systems, programs or initiatives
A liitle pet peeve - Some recent frustrations I that I have
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We lose students and parents and the general public on the fog
of edu speak
Some examples.
Instead we need to reclaim our story
Our focus needs to around the realities of LEARNING today
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Activity #1: Elevator SpeechPersonalized Learning isor21st
Century Learning is.
If there nothing else, my main message is, when it comes to
technology - we need to just try something6
Activity #2: I learn best when
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We live in exponentional times
Change is the new normal
The information age is here
Alvin Toffler sums this up beautifully for me 9
Been there done that.
Open Classrroom of the 1970s. Walls went up as fast as they went
down
Sullivan Commission in 1988 recommended sweeping changes. From
no grade levels up to age 8 to no letter grades on report cards
The government of day call for sweeping changes under the
program call THE YEAR 2000
Given our past, I am not surprised that there has been a stall
in reform or reimaging education10
Activity #3: Think Out LoudDoes education have to change? Why or
why not? All of it? Parts of it? What parts?
And yet
I would suggest that there are forces at play today that are
dramatically different from the past
Forces that are impacting schools, teachers and students13
One force that is undeniable is 14
My only Catholic reference the announcement of Pope Francis vs
Pope Benedict
We live in a mobile technology world 15
This web based, social and mobile technology is dramatically
effecting how teacher networks and the information available to
them
This was me in 1995
PLC - department in schools
If we agree that most learning is inherently social - the
networks we have feed our learning 16
The network feeds the social part of learning
This is potential reality for todays teachers
This is me today - #cpchat
Simon Sinek Story17
Example of 21st network in action 18
How are students reacting to this technoloigy
The story of Tommy..19
Broadening the Vision and understanding the implicationsWill
Richardson why school Internet and the time of information
abundance - With this abundance we are also seeing scarcity in
terms of our ability to access the abundance Parable of the long
spoons20
2011 Study: 20% of University Graduates over qualified Stats
Canada April 2, 2014
Are our schools meeting the needs of students?
My answer is yes but we are starting to see some signs that may
not last for much longer
This picture sums up the past 300 years of schooling and the
changing serving purposes
FarmingTo industryTo retailPost Secondary Education
Starting to see some shifts -
Post secondary ios the a ticket to well paying but times they
are a changing.
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Giving the changing landscapes
I would like to suggest a way forward and to give some examples
of this is working in schools today24
Keeping our priorities clear25
In my 19 years of experience here is my truth
Recent Gallpop poll of 600k students on how engaged they are at
school = Engaged = hope in their abiliites
50% responded hopefully - that leaves half of students
disengaged - school as irrelvent
Those who had hope tied that to a positive connection to a
teacher who cared for them - and built their strengths26
A teachers disposition as learner first, is the greatest factor
in our ability to re-image school
er
Crowd sourcing
Learning is social
Power of Wikipedia
Social media
Stephen Johnson - where to good ideas come from 28
This has been a key piece to our technology integration journey
related to building the capacity among the teachers
We felt that we need to make the case, and create the space for
teachers to learn from each other, in a risk free, play like
environment and with no strings attached
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Googles 20% Time
With that in mind we initiated our Building Experts Personalized
Pro-D
No professional goals, no smart goals, etc. We modelled this
personalized professional learning on Googles 20% time
Two areas of learning that has garnered the most attention:
Technology to Empower Learning & Project Based Learning
BC Ministry of Education came to high light some technology use
in our schools - including St. Pats
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Activity #5: Table Talk
1. Who is responsible for your professional development?(Think
about the role of the teacher, admin, superintendent?)
2. Describe when pro-d worked best for you?
Learning Empowered by Technology
Next year they are designing a project for a cohert of gr. 8
students
6 week cross curricular project on water as a new gold
rush.?
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Fixed vs Growth MindsetResilience, Change & A Story
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MOONSHOT THINKING.
www.johnnybevacqua.com : Figuring It Out
Email: [email protected]@jvbevacqua#teacher2learner
Johnny Bevacqua
