BIT2018 Conference Reflections

Attending a conference can be a great way to get new ideas, connect with other passionate educators and consolidate your thinking.

This past week I was able to attend two days of the Bringing IT Together 2018 (#bit18) conference in Niagara Falls.  It was two days of pushing myself out of my comfort zone and, back home and reflecting on the experience, I'm so glad I went.

As a former primary teacher and Kindergarten/Primary Consultant, most of the conferences I attended and presented at were geared to an audience of primary and kindergarten teachers. At BIT2018, the participants at the sessions I attended were mostly secondary teachers. Even though we were coming from very different contexts, the overall consensus was 'good pedagogy is good pedagogy.'  Whether we are talking about online learning or learning in a bricks & mortar classroom, it's about building relationships with students.

To push myself even further out of my comfort zone, instead of presenting a workshop with an agenda, powerpoint and speaker's notes, I facilitated a Learning Conversations session.  In these sessions, participants sit in a circle and engage in conversation on the designated topic. The facilitator guides the conversation, provides prompting questions when necessary. The topic I selected was Building Community in an Online Classroom, and the participants shared lots of ideas.  I had been worried - what if no one shows up, what if no one talks, what if.........  I shouldn't have worried. It was a group of teachers - of course they're going to talk!

I attended another Learning Conversation about the pedagogy of online classes, and having attended and facilitated a Learning Conversation, I'm now a huge fan. While there is still a place for 'sit and get' sessions at conferences, it was a welcome change of pace to engage in a small group discussion with other educators. The Learning Conversation gave us an opportunity to talk about the ideas we were hearing at other sessions, and consider how to apply them in our own context.

Thank you to the organizers for a relaxed, well-organized conference.  I left feeling renewed and re-energized with lots of new ideas to try in my online classroom.

Self-Regulation and Art

Image from Surrealistic Reality

Each person has different strategies for restoring their energy and their sense of calm after dealing with or even while dealing with stress. Earlier this month, I wrote about exercise as one of my go-to strategies.

This image popped up on a social media feed today and I was reminded of how we can use the arts for self-regulation. The arts can encompass a wide range of activities - drawing, sketching, painting, sculpture, music, fabric arts, writing, singing, composing music even culinary arts. 

For some people, it is restorative to create art while others are restored by listening to music, reading poetry, or viewing art. 

One stumbling block for me was the idea that art had to produce something and the something I produced had to be 'good.'  Instead of reducing stress, this mindset made art more stressful for me. As a kindergarten teacher, I was a firm believer in the importance of process over product. It was all about allowing students to explore different media and being expressive. So why wasn't I able to grant myself the same permission to focus on exploration instead of focusing on the final product? 

There are a number of very creative, artistic people in my family who create beautiful art that they can display in their home or give as a gift.  I had to stop comparing my artistic efforts to theirs, and turn off the voice in my head that said, "You're not good at art."  Gradually I began to enjoy the process again.  Now I like doodling in my bullet journal, putzing about with paint, writing poetry, and other creative endeavours for their own sake and not as a means to an end. Drawing, painting, and writing are tools I have added to my self-regulation toolbox.

Do you use the arts as a stress reducing strategy? 

What arts do you like to use to reduce stress?

Do you enjoy the process and/or the product?