Sharing the Learning Summit - TLLP

Wordle created for the www.iprojecttllp.blogspot.com site where our project reflections and findings live on the Internet.

I've just returned from the TLLP Sharing the Learning Summit where I got to present the findings our our project and talk to other participants about their projects. I have created a Google Presentation of the project that can be found here if you are interested. The Summit was a bitter-sweet moment for me - the opportunity to meet with other passionate educators was sweet, the official end to our project is bitter. Fortunately, I am in the midst of another project which means that +Ferdinand Krauss and I will get to attend the summit next year to talk about Blended Learning and Teacher PD using Chromebooks.

From beginning to end, the Summit was a huge 'highlight' for me. +Mark Godin was in attendance with me and has been part of our project before it was a project. As the Principal of Our Lady of Fatima it was his vision and support that led to the purchase of the iPads. Then, it was his encouragement and leadership that led to the TLLP application to support teacher learning & leadership and an improvement in academic & social achievement for our students with Autism. I am honoured to have such a role model in our corner and was very pleased to have him at the Summit to wrap up a project that he was such an integral part of.  

Mark Godin taking a break at the Summit.

Other highlights included:

• Meeting and speaking with Dr. Ann Lieberman who told me "...I've been looking for you!". Dr. Lieberman is doing research about teacher leaders and was given my name. I will be providing her with information about my experience with the TLLP. It tuns out that the email address she had for me was not correct so I am really happy to have connected with her.

• Being interviewed by TVOnatrio about our project. I got to spend some time talking to TVO about our project and the positive impact it has had on staff and students. The opportunity to share our learning is endless!

• Connecting with people who I interact with on Twitter is always a treat. I got to spend some time chatting with Kyle Pearce (who also spoke to Summit participants about his past TLLP work) and Peter Skillen & Brenda Sherry (who are both heavily involved in TLLP training that participants experience at the start of their project journey).

• Last but not least, the opportunity to chat with a variety of people who stopped at our display to learn about our project. I was more than happy to talk about our work and next steps for this project and other work that we are currently pursuing. 

On duty at the Summit.

My only regret is that I didn't say anything on my evaluation form about the networking that spills over into Twitter or Google + from these TLLP events. As an example, I think it would be a great if TLLP participants could have their Twitter or Google + handles listed with their project descriptions. This would be one simple way to help people connect and it would provide encouragement for non users to give social networking services a chance to assist them with their professional learning and sharing. There is nothing better than being part of other peoples professional learning networks and having them join mine. 

Being surrounded by people who are passionate about their work and about sharing their work is such a personal and professional boost. I want to end this post with something Dr. Ann Lieberman said when she spoke to the participants closer to the end of the summit. She hit the nail on the head and I couldn't agree with her more.