Tag Archive for TeachMeet

#teachmeet

25/05/2011 TeachMeet 2 comments

TeachMeet is five years old! And it’s quite the five year old. It’s vibrant, full of energy and out of control.

My first TeachMeet was in the Jolly Judge in Edinburgh four years ago this month. The whole thing was incredibly different to what I’m helping to put together in Edinburgh next month. It was very informal indeed. There was noone standing up to present. There were no costs and no sponsors and it was very ‘techy’.

Somehow in the intervening period TeachMeet has exploded as an idea. Just now there seems to be one taking place almost every week and in many different countries, and I can see why. They’re just such a refreshing approach to CPD. I love their informal atmosphere, the relative lack of control and the fantastic sharing which results. The fact that these events seem to appear from nowhere, are strung together by loose collections of classroom teachers and encourage many folk to stand up and share who might not otherwise consider doing so, is very refreshing indeed.

There are lots of outstanding questions regarding the future of TeachMeets. They’re so appealing to some sponsors now, they’re actually approaching the organisers rather than the other way round. Coordinating to funds for a TeachMeet can be complicated. Anyone can organise a TeachMeet, so what’s to stop a business doing so? The popularity and spread of TeachMeet has caused them to become a little more traditional in their nature – i.e. most now sign up as lurkers and are presented to by a small minority – should/could we return to the idea of most who attend are prepared to present?

Despite all these outstanding questions, TeachMeet has really struck a chord with the profession and is clearly meeting a need – long may it continue.

TMLothians11

03/04/2011 TeachMeet No comments

I’m helping to organise another TeachMeet. We had such a fantastic one last year in East Lothian, but this time I’ve teamed up with some non-East Lothian folk to put together a TeachMeet for Edinburgh, the Lothians & Borders…and anyone else!

We’re running this TeachMeet in partnership with the Scottish Book Trust and we have the theme of ‘creativeclassroomsedition’.

If you’ve got some creative practice you’d like to share, or you’d like to hear others share what they’ve been doing sign up now. Just get your name on the wiki:

http://teachmeet.pbworks.com/tmlothians11

ePLC

26/09/2010 cfe, change, learning communities, reflection, TeachMeet 6 comments

I’ve had this idea growing since TeachMeet the other night when I facilitated one of the World Cafe discussions around the following question.

How do we genuinely involve pupils in their learning and assessment?

You can see the outcomes of the discussion here.

The reason I asked this question is that I think that developing this aspect of our practice as teachers, particularly in the Secondary context, is a major challenge and the key to successfully implementing Curriculum for Excellence. I was very struck by the animated and rich discussion which occurred at TeachMeet…it would appear that I am not alone in pondering this question. In fact, I know of many others from twitter & blogs who have been not only considering this – but trying out ways to address this issue.

As well as giving some thought to this, I’m also currently doing a lot of reading around the notion of Collaborative Professional Enquiry / Collaborative Professional Learning / Professional Learning Communities / Group Action Research. This is primarily to aid me in my work towards my CTeach MEd which I’ve recently returned to after a year out.

So the idea that has arisen from these thought processes is –

Can we create an ePLC [electronic Professional Learning Community] to work together to develop our knowledge of this key issue?

I’m sure many would argue that many informal professional learning communities of sorts already exist through twitter and the blogosphere. But what I’m talking about here is setting up a much more formal group of 5/6 teachers to carry out a piece of collaborative professional enquiry. This could be around something like the following question?

What impact does involving pupils in planning their learning and assessment have?

I have a bit of a problem at the minute in that I don’t have a class just now, but I would be happy to facilitate the community – i.e. arrange meetings, share readings, administer file sharing, contribute to discussions etc.

What do you think? This may well be happening already elsewhere, but if so I haven’t encountered it. It could take our electronic professional interactions to a new level…? Can you imagine a more exciting form of CPD?

TeachMeet SLF2010

11/08/2010 TeachMeet No comments

Are you going to the Scottish Learning Festival next month? If you are, it’s worth making your way along to the highlight of the festival – TeachMeet. If you don’t know what a TeachMeet is…where have you been? Find out more here.

TeachMeets are free to attend. The only real requirement is that you’re prepared to get involved and take away some new ideas.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up now!

TeachMeet in East Lothian

11/11/2009 TeachMeet No comments

It is time. TeachMeet is coming to East Lothian. It’s about time the teachers of East Lothian got together to have our own TeachMeet.

What is TeachMeet? TeachMeet is an informal gathering of teachers. The idea is to network and share ideas. Anyone can come. Anyone can present. Ideally, these presentations should be about what’s going on in classrooms.

What’s with the CfE tagline? TeachMeets have often focused on the use of ICT in classrooms in the past. While this is clearly important, we’d like to try and broaden the spectrum a little for our TeachMeet. We’d like to encourage presentations on any new ideas teachers have been trying out in our classrooms, whether they involve technology or not. This is why we’ve given our TeachMeet the ‘curriculumforexcellenceedition’ tag line.

When and where is it? It’s on Thursday 4th February 2010 from 6pm to 8pm at the Scottish Seabird Centre in North Berwick.

What can I do? You can just come along and listen and chat, please sign up though. You could sign up to give a 2 minute presentation, or even a 7 minute presentation. Or, you could sponsor the event.

I hope this all makes sense, if not please give me a shout.

See you there?

TeachMeetBorders & TeachMeetEast…?

10/02/2009 TeachMeet 2 comments

TeachMeetBorders is happening on 20th Feb in Galashiels.

I wont actually be able to make it, but I wanted to help spread the word. It also got me thinking, has there been one in East Lothian? If not, is there demand for one? If so, I wouldn’t mind trying to put one together…?