What an eye opening experience this event was for us. 3000 innovative educators (mostly administrators and CEOs) gathered in Nashville to discuss best practices for school change. Prior to this conference, we had heard words buzzing all around Carondelet and to be honest, we had vague notions of their meanings.
iNACOL cleared up a lot of ideas, reinforced best practices we already use and changed our minds on some of our more stubborn notions. Here is a quick list of highlights:
- There are different definitions for buzz words like “student-centered,” “project-based,” “student agency,” “PBL,” etc. It is really important that everyone in the community has a shared definition for these terms.
- Early, focused success, when transitioning from old to new, breeds more success and buy-in from all stakeholders.
- Various spaces for students to work in different configurations are required and should be available.
- A ton of adults need to be accessible to students working as “learning experience designers” (LED), mentors, coaches, advisors, and supervisors.
- Students must learn procedures on how to behave, transition, and work both collaboratively and independently.
- Students must be allowed to make several choices regarding what/how they study.
- Traditional classroom setting where there are 30+ kids and one teacher is antiquated and ineffective for too many kids.
Also, we got to meet up with two De La Salle teachers, Alex Stevenson and Donald Van Bromel. Being able to collaborate and laugh with teachers from across the street was definitely a refreshing perk!
The next iNACOL symposium is set for October 2019 in Palm Springs. We highly recommend attendees from CHS be members of Carondelet’s leadership team. Also, enthusiastic teachers who are interested in learning (or revisiting) these educational approaches should attend this symposium in 2019.
If you would like to hear more or you’re interested in attending next year, please stop by for a chat. Both Lisa and I can tell you more about our experiences.