Festival of Learning Day 1

Lucky me for making it to the Festival of Learning by PLANE.  Like any good festival, there was quite a buzz and lots of people all happy to be there and be part of the festivitites. There was a lot on offer – a smorgasbord of learning and networking opportunities.

I won’t be able to do justice in capturing what it was like because so much happened. Check out#FOL12 on Twitter, this Storify by @Townesy77, PLANE festival page, or within PLANE.

Instead, I’ll list some of my takeaways because this is personalised learning, yeah? My learning.

  • Celebrate Success.  Share your story.  from Adam Elliott – you can win even if no one else expect you to do so.  And when people acknowledge your success, enjoy the ride.
  • Work needed for success. Narratives as context for learning is a motivating factor. from Dr Jason Fox. “What if work is play?”  It’s not that work is play as such but viewed as play – I interpret this as the Mary Poppins spoonful of sugar approach:

In ev’ry job that must be done there is an element of fun

you find the fun and snap! The job’s a game

  • There are many accessibility issues and opportunities for a truly inclusive classroom. Technology can help students communicate (read: share their story). from Greg Alchin. We have the technology. The question is, are we designing inclusive classrooms? Greg also shared the CAP website – lots of resources there.
  • Take care of the teachers. from Dan Haesler. Ok, I just caught the tail-end of Dan’s presentation but I thought this message is so powerful in its simplicity and relevance.  I look at it as a colleague/peer of teachers but also as a parent of kids who have teachers.
  • Be kind.  from Vivien Tuckerman. Again, just one of her many shared thoughts. However, I find that this language is important and far easier to use with students – Respect is more abstract in comparison.  
  • Do it. Share it. Lead it. from Dr S Howard. A good wrap-up keynote because, for me at least, Sarah touched on all the themes mentioned above. There is positive change in education – we must acknowledge and celebrate it. We have to work  – do make things happen. We should share our stories. This is part of taking care of teachers. Technology is there with all its affordances. Sarah’s keynote notes has her keypoints but not the dynamic story-telling on risk-taking  with a meta approach – modeling to the max. (Yes, I have an edu crush and yes I’ve told her because I was lucky enough to have a post-conference de-brief with her, Ben Jones and Donelle Batty).
There are also social takeaways – having met a few  including PLANE’s Roisin and Jenny Lewis – and spending time with my edu friends.
All up, a good first day. Looking forward to tomorrow.
And look… a wrap-up in less than 500 words. I was aiming for 300 though. oh well. 🙂
PS. if you’re an educator, register at PLANE.
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