In
two days, we will launch our inaugural Student EdCon in LASD focused on
increasing student voice and encouraging students to act on ideas that
will improve learning experiences at school. After months of planning,
we will have sixty-five middle-school students fully engaged in using
design thinking to re-imagine learning. We know students are full of
ideas about how learning can be improved, but the success of this
student conference will depend on our ability to create the right space
for these students to be inspired, heard and encouraged to act. With
only a few days to go and lots of preparation underway, I am excited and
nervous!
Launching
Student EdCon is a risk that I am feeling both personally and
professionally on behalf of our district. It feels risky because we are
sharing our learning publicly. We are vulnerable because we are asking
questions we don’t have the answers to. It’s scary and a little
intimidating. What if we don’t like what students have to say? What if
their ideas aren’t what we anticipate? And yet, this is exactly what
we have asked our teachers to do. All year, we have talked about the
importance of taking risks, shifting ownership and facilitating
meaningful learning experiences. If this is what we expect of our
teachers, then it is only fair to expect the same of our administrators
and our organization.
Reflecting
on the origins of Student EdCon and the underlying foundation of why we
have created this conference helps minimize the risks. Whatever the
outcome, this conference was created with the intention of engaging
middle school students to be more active in helping our district define
what it means to “revolutionize learning for all students.”
Back
in December, I attended Big Ideas Fest with a few of my colleagues.
Big Ideas Fest is not a sit and get type of conference, it is organized
with a bias towards action and requires participants to fully engage in
being a part of a solution. A fantastic and inspiring experience, but
one that left us questioning why we weren’t engaging students in the
same way. After lots of brainstorming, Student EdCon was born and the
real planning began.
We
began by researching student leadership opportunities, student
conferences and students who were already invested in these ideas
globally. We met incredible people like NIkhil Goyal, and Zak Malamed,
two young adults who have made a real impact on inspiring students to
speak out. We connected with other educators via Twitter and Skype,
building our personal learning networks along the way. After several
months and a lot of learning, the risk we took is already paying off.
Our team has learned an a tremendous amount that will positively impact
the learning experiences we provide to our students. This learning has
already been shared with our Student Ed Con facilitators, all of whom
are LASD teachers and administrators. So while I will remain slightly
nervous until the Student EdCon culminating event Saturday morning, I
already know that taking the risk to improve student learning is the
right thing to do!
A
big thank you to Kami Thordarson, Innovative Strategies Coach &
Karen Wilson, STEM Coach for helping to plan Student EdCon. Thank you
also to our amazing Student EdCon facilitators: Ricky Hu, Karen Kehlet,
Aaron Kerns, Vicki Lombardi, Raquel Matteroli, Sandra McGonagle, Cindi
McLaughlin, & Lisa Waxman.
Contributed by Alyssa Gallagher, Asst Superintendent of Curriculum & Instruction