Monday, July 6, 2009

On the Road with the South Paris Collaborative

Christine Southard and I recorded our conversation on our way home from NECC09. We speak each morning on the way to school, while we each drive long distances to get to work. We often think we should be recording these conversations. We will figure out a way soon. In the meantime, this conversation was recorded because we drove home together from Washington DC back to New York.

Enjoy!





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3 comments:

Kerrie Gustin said...

I really enjoyed listening to your conversation. I found it funny, and oddly satisfying, that your conversation mirrors almost exactly the ongoing conversations I have with Tammy, one of my collaborative partners. I agree that we often get bogged down in the tools, and lose sight of the pedagogy, i.e. differentiation. I prefer to keep the focus on instruction myself, and struggle constantly to maintain that delicate balance, especially when I'm training other teachers.

I like the consultant idea to learn about tools separately from the pedagogy/methods sessions at NECC. I agree that the focus of the sessions should not be sidetracked from how to teach based upon the proficiency level of the audience, even as I hope that we don't leave any teachers behind. The tools need to be secondary to the content. Maybe NECC is too large a venue for that to happen. I agree with your experience that the most powerful learning happens in the informal discussions found in the Blogger's Cafe and Birds of a Feather sessions. These folks became the foundation of my PLN, and subsequently led me to the South Paris Collaborative.

You guys really covered a lot in this conversation! I enjoyed listening, and look forward to hearing more in the future. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Ms.D said...

I really enjoyed listening to your conversation. I go back and forth between enjoying learning about the new toys , oops, tools, but really benefit more from seeing how they are used to enhance curriculum.
Kathbc

Mrs.A said...

I enjoy how well you two work together, questioning, planning and creating a wonderful learning environment for all of your students. It is very neat the way you continue the conversations daily to help plan.