Killing Good Ideas

One of my mentors was venting to me the other day about meetings he and his teacher learders go to once a month. The message is change the way you teach...facilitate learning...problem-based/challenge-based learning...flip the classroom. And what did they get in these meetings? Sit-n-git, sage-on-the-stage pontification for 2-hours every month. Not a good way to sell an idea.

This post on The Tempered Radical really brought our conversation back to me this week. Bill Ferriter hits it on head

The moral of this story is that we CAN'T be surprised by teachers who run quiet classrooms where lecture is the norm and empowering learners is the exception when those same teachers sit silently listening in faculty meetings for decades on end.

We can't really expect our teachers to change en mass if our leadership doesn't change - right?

This is nothing new, but how much time have we wasted sharing news that could have been sent via email. In my life 6 years X 10 months X 2 hours = 120 hours. Working now for a small departments our meetings rotate around doing work. Shouldn't all meetings rotate around work or thought or sharing best practices? I certainly think so. Tonight I took my first step toward spreading the word by sending this link to my mentor.

Another great site I just found out about via Twitter is Kristen Daniels and Wayne Feller's Flipped PD site. I've just scratched the surface of the website and downloaded their iBook. Can't wait to put this to work in August.