100 Posts in 100 Days
It’s the summer (or for those of us in South America, the winter) break. Of all years, this is the year to take some time to rejuvenate and refresh. For many educators, myself included, refreshing includes some self-selected learning opportunities. Ones that I am deeply interested in and that I can “savor” in the sense that I’ve selected something that fits into my schedule and isn’t squeezed in amongst an array of other commitments.
This weekend, I will be joining the Excelle Collective, a group of women leaders in education. I’m packing my bags and preparing for the event. My packing list from the Excelle team includes tips on what kind of clothing to bring to be prepared for the weather and the various weekend activities as well as the complete agenda for the workshop sessions. Yesterday, I even received an individual email from Amanda Riegel, Excelle Founder, with a “heads up” about a portion of the agenda that affects me uniquely. The care and attention that have gone into planning this upcoming weekend is evident.
This has me thinking about 2 things:
First, in The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters (a book I highly recommend), author Priya Parker shares her wisdom and experience for creating meaningful and memorable group events. A large focus is on the considerations and steps the person or team planning an event will want to attend to. One additional thing she discusses, and the thing I’m thinking about for this weekend is:
How do I want to show up?
Amanda and her team have been working diligently and I have no doubt that when I arrive, the details will be just as impeccable as they were last year. I also know that in order to fully absorb all that has been planned, I have to be conscious of how I show up and participate in the sessions. As a participant, I need to do just as much thoughtful planning and preparation as the organizers if I am going to get the most out of my experience.
Which leads to the 2nd thing I’m thinking about:
The Taking Action Toolkit from Learning Forward. I have long been a member of Learning Forward and benefited greatly from their work in the field of professional learning. Last October, in advance of their annual conference in December, they shared this toolkit. Thinking about how I want to show up for Excelle this weekend reminded me of this simple set of resources that I can use as a guide for how I will show up.
The guide is divided into three sections: pre-conference, during the conference, and post-conference. Some parts aren’t so relevant to my Excelle experience (like session selection), but I think other parts can be incredibly helpful. The ones I am choosing include:
- The first part of the Pre-Conference Goal Setting tool will help me be specific about my purpose and the kind of return I want on my investment of time.
- The Session Notecatcher seems like a tool that will help me synthesize my most important learning and begin planning for application.
- Post conference, I’m not sure which tool will feel like the best fit, but both the How do we turn new learning into an actionable plan and the After Conference Action Plan Template are options for me to try out.
There are other resources in the toolkit that I likely won’t use for this event, so it’s worth a few minutes of your time to check out the complete Taking Action Toolkit.
I’m investing my time and energy this weekend and I plan to show up focused and ready to gain as much as I can. Maybe, if you are attending summer professional learning experiences, you will find some value in these tools as well. Enjoy!