Professional Development Meme 2009

I was reading about the meme on Louise Maine's blog and thought it sounded like a good one, and low and behold she had tagged me.  Well here goes!

Directions

Summer can be a great time for professional development. It is an opportunity to learn more about a topic, read a particular work or the works of a particular author, beef up an existing unit of instruction, advance one’s technical skills, work on that advanced degree or certification, pick up a new hobby, and finish many of the other items on our ever-growing To Do Lists. Let’s make Summer 2009 a time when we actually get to accomplish a few of those things and enjoy the thrill of marking them off our lists.

The Rules

1. Pick 1-3 professional development goals and commit to achieving them this summer.


2. For the purposes of this activity the end of summer will be Labor Day (09/07/09).


3. Post the above directions along with your 1-3 goals on your blog.


4. Title your post Professional Development Meme 2009 and link back/trackback to http://clifmims.com/blog/archives/2447.


5. Use the following tag/ keyword/ category on your post: pdmeme09.


6. Tag 5-8 others to participate in the meme.


7. Achieve your goals and "develop professionally."


8. Commit to sharing your results on your blog during early or mid-September.

My Professional Development Goals

1. Read 'Disrupting Class; How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns'


2. Learn more about teaching using Moodle (my district is switching to Moodle in the fall and I will be responsible for teaching at least 4 courses using this Learning Management System)


3. Prepare for the two professional development sessions I will be facilitating at the end of the summer

I'm really looking forward to summer break not only to accomplish the goals above, but more importantly to decompress and enjoy time with friends and family.

Now, I'm going to break rule #6 and not explicitly tag anyone.  If you are reading this, first off thanks!  Secondly, if you haven't been tagged already and think you'd like to participate, then consider yourself tagged ;-)

I'm It

Way back in May I was tagged by Louise Maine for the "I believe..." meme started by Barry Bachenheimer.  I've been putting off writing this for quite a while. It's not that I didn't want to write it, it's just that I have a hard time articulating the points that I feel are important in education.  So, as I procrastinate writing up those final report cards, here goes.

I Believe...

• - every child deserves respect


• - every child should be valued


• - every child has strengths that need to be recognized


• - no one deserves to be told that they can't do something or that they'll never amount to anything


• - education must be relevant to the learner


• - assessment needs to be meaningful


• - students must be given the opportunity to discuss and reflect upon what they are learning


• - grades should not be used.  as a motivator.  as an end in themselves.


• - the focus should be on the process, not just the product


• - learning builds on prior knowledge; it is a teacher's role to uncover that knowledge


• - our students are diverse so our teaching methods should be too


• - there is more than one way to demonstrate knowledge


• - the best education encourages wonder


• - a good education should empower students with the skills to be able to continue learning about the things that are important to them.

These are just a few of the things that I believe with respect to education.

The Thing About Blog Memes

I'm not a memeticist, but I'm not sure that this is really what Dawkins would call a meme.  I can't help but feel that they are pretty similar to chain letters with the exceptions that

1. they rarely demand that you tag a required amount of people in a limited amount of time or else...   and


2. men are just as likely to participate in memes as women--unlike chain letters which seem to be the domain of women and girls

Tag--You're It!

So it is with great trepidation that I tag the following people:
Kevin /dogtrax (Kevin's Meandering Mind)

Sarah Stewart (Sarah's Musings)

My trepidation is they will see this tag as an onerous task to add to their to-do lists.  If it catches your fancy--great, do it (I'm keen to find out what you believe!)  If not, that is ok too.

The Final Word

What do you believe is truly important with respect to education?  Write a post or leave a comment below.  It is an interesting exercise, to be sure!

Image: 'Tag!  You're It!' by Lance and Erin licensed under creative commons attribution, non-comercial, no derivitives works 2.0 generic.