Reading the twitter feed from yesterday may be the reason it is 9:38pm on Sunday night, and I have yet to complete a single item for tomorrow’s lesson. Oops. But even if I went to sleep right now, I am confident that I will be a better teacher tomorrow thanks to the thoughtful and meaningful conversations I had with my fellow edcampers yesterday. But because my anal retentive personality about lesson prep will win out, and I do need to sleep, here is my quick run-down of my deep thoughts from Edcamp Boston 2016…

1. Before I jumped on here to write this post, I was reading the CNN news headlines. We live in a world that is so filled with anger and hate.  As educators, we must remember that one of our most crucial roles is to teach children to be kind and empathetic human beings. Thank you to Henry Turner and Nate Everett for leading an incredible conversation in the “How to create a culture of diverse perspectives ?” session.  There are many discussions that need to happen in our classrooms that are deep and challenging. We cannot shy away from these discussions with our students. We must model for our students how to be good listeners, how to be compassionate to others even when we disagree, and perhaps most importantly, teach them that the identity of any individual is complex and multifaceted and must not be assumed. There is so much anger and hate in our society today, conversations about empathy and identity are essential. I am so grateful to my colleagues in the little Lexington room for this discussion yesterday.
2. I did not have a single conversation yesterday about an app or new tool. Hallelujah. It is so refreshing to talk about education again. It is 2016. It is should go without saying that technology is implicit in our day, but it does not need to be the focus of our every conversation or every piece of PD. Yes, there need to be opportunities for teachers to become more facile users of apps, tools and devices, but it does not need to be the focus of every conversation.
3. “Our job is inspiration creator.” I am not sure who inspired me to write that on the notes  wall yesterday during our passion conversation, but it has been in the forefront of my mind today. Maker Spaces and genius hour and choice projects and the like, are all wonderful possibilities in the school day, but they are not always going to be the answer to the curriculum choices we are forced to make on a daily basis.  Our job is to determine what is going to inspire our students to learn whatever material we are tasked to teach. This is not
   always easy, but it is why as teachers we must form strong relationships and trust with our students. We have to know what makes them tick, and they have to know what motivates us as well. Be an inspiration creator and find the entry point.

   And finally…

4. Kids need recess, or at the very least, longer than 22 minutes to eat and hold a conversation with peers. Yesterday was exhausting. Session to session, taking notes, synthesizing ideas, learning new information…exhausting. Kids do this every day. But wait! We had an hour for lunch! Like is often the case, some of the most meaningful conversations I had were with colleagues during lunch. What are kids losing in not being able to have these interactions with their peers? What are they losing on not having time to debrief and breathe during the school day? Sadly, I do not hold the power to make this change in my school or district, but I do have the power to create change in my own fifdom (aka Room 210). In Room 210 there are no “do nows” allowed. Students enter and breathe for a minute. It makes such a difference. Tomorrow when I do this, I will smile and think of my fellow passionites from Edcamp Boston, then I will set off on my mission to inspire.

Okay, I really do need to plan for tomorrow…

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A special shoutout to my Edcamp Boston organizing commrades, and to the faces that make Edcamp Boston a reunion. You all rock. It is an honor to call you friends and colleagues. Sarah Edson…special award for being the boss and driving all the way out. We will see you in CT on 8/12.