Collaboratorium

I wasn't planning on writing about my Professional Development (PD) experiences today, but in light of my post last week on collaboration and one of the sessions I attended today, I thought it'd be appropriate.

My school division chose to provide "Collaboratorium" as one of the options for our PD sessions during pre-week. They called the experience the "unconference model," in which teachers were able to define their own learning needs by creating a group and collaborating on a topic of their choosing.

Now, to be honest, I was skeptical at first. I thought it would turn into a chit-chat session or a gossip hour instead of a productive use of time. I thought it would turn into a scene in which teachers would be responding to emails or aimlessly searching the web. How wrong was I??
The answer: very wrong.

Here are a few of the things that I witnessed:

• Science teachers from my school working together and sharing ideas as they planned out the first month of school.

• Math teachers from my school talking about their content, sharing ideas, and thinking about the school calendar as they planned their first few weeks.

• Librarians discussing ways to improve the reading in schools.

• Art teachers discussing the notion of using the math (geometry) and history curriculum to guide their own curriculum.  

• History teachers discussing interesting websites that could be of value in their own classroom. 

• An experienced reading teacher from my school answering questions, sharing ideas, and assisting a new teacher as they thought about the curriculum that they would be teaching together this year. 

• A group of teachers from a variety of contents discussing strategies that would help students who are entering our classrooms at lower readiness levels.

• A positive place where the creative engines of our district's teachers were put to work.

• Teachers encouraging each other, complimenting one another, and jotting down many ideas that could be useful in their own classroom this year.  

• Passion and energy from teachers who were able to choose what topics to discuss.

• Work getting done.

At one point, I found myself at a table with high school and middle school teachers sharing review game activities. I learned about one activity that a high school teacher adapted to use in his classroom called Hunger Games. It sounded so AMAZING! It was an idea that I never would have known about if I was in a traditional PD session in which teachers are sitting in chairs listening to the "experts" about what we need to do to be successful in our classroom. Now, there is a time in place for that type of PD as well. And, I don't want to imply that nothing is ever learned in sessions like those. I have certainly adapted ideas that I have heard in those sessions. However, there was something unique about this "unconference model" that struck a chord with me.