Perpetual Summer Camp

Do you remember going to “summer camp” as a kid?  You would spend about a week, meeting with, or making new friends, and would have one of the best times of your life.  You would do so many cool things together and build bonds that you felt could last forever.  Often at the end of the week, you would be upset that you were leaving, promise that you would write one another, stay in touch, and meet up again soon.

Then you never talked again.

That world doesn’t exist anymore.  Kids now, could go to summer camp, meet someone in the first day, pull out their mobile device, add their new friend to Facebook, and easily stay in touch for as long as they choose.  It is way easier to maintain those connections now.

This “summer camp” idea is one that I discussed at the recent Learning 2.011 conference in Shanghai with so many great connections and conversations happening about the great things that are happening in each other’s classrooms and schools, while also talking about the things that people are going to try and implement to improve the environment their students work in.

The idea that our conversations and moving forward is absolutely fantastic, and can really push things forward in our schools.  There is more of an accountability to the promises of changed practices that we make at these sessions.

For example, do you know the question at the conference, “What are you going to do on Monday because of what you have learned?”   The difference is now, you could have colleagues checking up on you to make sure that you are accountable to what you are doing. They can also watch the progress, growth, and the impact of your work, and then implement it into their own classroom.  I know that at many of the conferences I have attended, I closely follow the work of the educators that I have connected with (if they are willing to share openly) to see what they are doing, and hopefully implement some of these practices into my own work.

Summer camp does not have to end anymore.  Keep the connections and the conversations going.

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