This is the first of a few posts about the recent ‘Teachmeet’ that recently took place in Newcastle (late I know!)
For those of you that have never heard of Teachmeet before:
“The main part of TeachMeet is hearing stories about learning, from teachers. This is not an event to present about a product or theory – this is a chance for teachers from all types of establishments to hear ideas from each other. Real narratives of practice that make a difference. It is about being engaged and inspired by our immediate colleagues and a whole bucket load of networking to boot!’ (taken from http://www.teachmeet.org.uk/)
People have a choice of 2 minute or 7 minute presentations and they are organised by teachers across the UK.
This was my first ever ‘Teachmeet’ (Newcastle 2010) and the event was kicked off by Gwyn ap Harry: a revolutionary educational thinker , ‘doer’ and managing director of Smartassess. The main theme of his 2 minute presentation centred around the criticism of our current educational system. He invites people to become designers of learning and to be “…be part of the solution – Attack it, destroy it, break it – make something better.” I could just imagine Rage against the machine’s ‘Wake up’ playing along to his sentiments: bit.ly/bOVeyy I’m with ya comrade!
Gwyn placed emphasis on the fact that teachers should stop pretending that they are experts in their field (if they were they’d be doing something else). Instead, they should become experts in the field of learning, the principles of lesson design, pedagogy and the learning environment. Another key aspect of his presentation was that “…Strategies, initiatives, processes, meetings, improvement plans – even great presentations – don’t make things happen: people do.” Totally agreed!
*Link to Gwyn’s presentation: http://bit.ly/gwynapteach
The event was brilliantly organised by Chris Harte, Darren Mead, Fergus Hegarty, Simon Brown and Graeme Porter at the Mining Institute in the centre of Newcastle: a grandiose setting indeed. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I intend to review many of the presentations that took place within the week. However, my immediate conclusion is that the people who presented are the ones who are – by their own practice and experiences – showing how educational systems can be influenced = by placing our efforts on Learning and showcasing ideas in order to generate further discussion. I sometimes worry about people who preach from afar and don’t practice from up close but as Gwyn said right at the beginning: BE PART OF THE SOLUTION. Are you?
[...] of 2010 Newcastle Teachmeet found here & [...]