What do artificial insemination of turkeys, hand hygiene, monkey prostitution, and Norman Borlaug have in common? If you ask me, literally nothing but this is how the #PSUAgEd19 cohort started our morning this past Saturday. Award-winning author, Stephen J Dubner, kicked off the 2018 Symposium for Teaching and Learning with Technology with a funny, informative, and inspiring keynote. He shared his experiences, how he ended up where he is today, and lots of err, interesting stories along the way. (Seriously, if you didn’t know that monkey prostitution was a thing, Google Keith Chen and his work with teaching capuchin monkeys how to use currency.)
The 2019 cohort, along with a few hundred Penn State professors and students, spent the day in a variety of workshops focused on the use of technology in the classroom. Many workshop options were offered but I chose to attend Show & Tell: Infographics to Keep and Sustain Engagement and “But what if I cry?” The Moral Moments Project: Using technology, community, and contemplation as gateways to empathy and compassion. (Also a great thing to check out, moralmoments.psu.edu) In both of these workshops, I was challenged, engaged, and inspired as a future educator.
As I looked around the room and realized that professors from varying disciplines, experience levels, and backgrounds were in attendance, I was reminded that as educators, we have a responsibility to our students to never stop learning and growing. The moment we become stagnant in our personal development is the moment we fail our students.
In addition to free food and good company on Saturday, I truly did learn a lot. Some of the more technical things I learned, I will apply in the classroom as I move into student teaching and beyond. Others, I will apply here and now in every aspect of my life. It’s funny how some of the most profound life lessons can be discovered when you are trying to learn something completely different. I may have gone to learn about technology, but I walked away with so much more.
So be it til you change it.
It was great having you there on what looked like a very busy weekend!
ReplyDeleteSo much learning to occur!
Thank you, Dr. Foster! I was so glad to be able to be there, made me wish I had attended in past years! Maybe next spring I will make the trip back to State College for #tltsym19!
DeleteVictoria, I am glad that you had the chance to attend this symposium! How do you think you will specifically connect what you learned to your student teaching experience?
ReplyDeleteThanks, Angie! One of the workshops I attended was about implementing infographics into your class in different ways and I really want to try some of the ideas that they shared.
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