Another Great Day of Learning!

Last week, I (Kyla) attended the fall MISIC conference: Learning by Design, Personalize it!  I have always really enjoyed this conference and I was thrilled to get to attend another session by my favorites, Becky Hacker-Kluver, and Jaymie Randel.  This time, their session was about understanding the unique needs of adult learners and how I can use that knowledge to better personalize their coaching cycles.  They had several great suggestions:
  • Make sure that the task is practical and results-oriented
  • Always draw from their past experiences, remember that teachers are the experts!
  • Provide and encourage balance
  • Try and build confidence before asking them to take risks
As I was reflecting on this session, I decided that the most interesting part of this is that although it was directed at adult learners, I think that our students are quite similar.  I think these 4 strategies are important to remember regardless of age. I am planning to add these suggestions and the empowering questions to my toolbox for coaching cycles.

I also had the opportunity to listen to the founder of Iowa Big and a group of students and teachers from Iowa Big North.  Both organizations are really changing the look of education. They take students and partner them with local businesses to solve problems for the business.  This looks like such a great opportunity for students and something that we would love to bring to GR. Right now, we are just in the brainstorming phase but I am excited to be part of a leadership team that looks for ways to transform our current practice to provide new authentic opportunities for our students.  

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