I'm off to SWLfSC's Teachmeet today. I wrote about this 10 days ago and wondered whether I'd be talked at for the whole 2 hours
It turns out that there are even more presentations than I thought:
Big Picture stuff
- ESD Current context for teachers and teaching - Justin Dillon
- Systems thinking in the classroom - Stephen Sterling
- Free CPD programmes on sustainability education - Paul Vare
Greener schools
- Resource use and waste management - Sheila Gundry
- Keep Britain Tidy -Tom Knapper (untidy more like)
Different Approaches
- Sustainable learning - Clare Marshall
- The John Muir approach - Clare Moody
Plenary
- Quality education and ESD: reflect on your learning - Mairi Kershaw
Not many teachers – although there are two slots in the programme rather condescendingly termed: Teacher Exchange.
But maybe I'm guilty of bringing too literal an approach to the notion of Teachmeet. Perhaps I should not read this as Teachers Meet, let along Meet Teachers. I looked it up and find it's a Scottish idea. This is what Wikipedia has to say:
History[edit]
Originally conceived in the summer of 2006 in Edinburgh, Scotland, under the name "ScotEduBlogs Meetup". The new name TeachMeet was created by Ewan McIntosh and agreed upon by the attendees of the first event. The 2nd Edition was held in Glasgow on the 20th of September 2006.[3]The 5th TeachMeet was the first to be held at the BETT Show in London.[4]
In 2010 TeachMeet 'Takeover' was introduced, where teachers took over vendors stands in the main conference to bring the TeachMeet discussion out of the Apex Room and onto the exhibition floor.[5]
TeachMeets are now regular occurrences in Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Australia, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, the USA, New Zealand. In New Zealand the Teachmeet is virtual and is run totally via Google+ Hangout.
Common Features[edit]
The following features are often part of a Teachmeet, but the format changes according to the size of the meeting and the preferences of the organisers:Micro-presentations - lasting 7 minutes
Nano-presentations - lasting 2 minutes nano presentation (3-5 one after the other)
Round-table break-outs - lasting 15 minutes or so, allowing focussed discussion around a theme, with a volunteer facilitator
Random selection of speakers - from a pool of willing participants
Back-channel - to let non-participants participate
This does imply that there will be teachers somewhere around. I'll see if I can find any. More on it all next week.
Respond