As soon as educators started entering the room at The Innisfil Public Library, you could feel the excitement in the air. There were small conversations happening everywhere about the beauty and inspiration of the space we were in. The space itself immediately let the learners know that they were welcome and valued and they were encouraged to meet their own individual learning needs by choosing how they were going to learn. There were tables and chairs, comfortable modular furniture, standing areas and a creative space on the floor in the middle of the room. It was fascinating to watch the spaces people gravitated to. Initially, people stuck to the familiar by choosing the tables and chairs, no one choose the center creative space! Over the course of the day that began to evolve, as participants intentionally thought about what they need to learn best, they began to move. Suddenly there were more people standing, more people had migrated to the modular furniture and we had a groups of people sitting on the floor in the center making buttons! This evolution represents what was so exciting about the learning of this day. It was all about the needs of the learner.
The educators continuously kept the needs of their students at the center of the conversation. The conversation was not about 'the stuff', it was always about how do we best support the learning needs of our students.
The afternoon was a time for play, exploration and self directed learning. It was inspiring to pop into conversations where educators were embracing the ideas of exploration, pushing themselves and supporting each other!
Educators, left that day and shared the spark with their home school communities. More and more teachers are asking to be involved. The ripple continues to grow.
To see what happened that day check out this video.
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