This past week I wore many hats for many different purposes all within our work in the Metro Vancouver/Fraser Valley region. With each of these “hats,” I learned and grew. Here’s how:
🎓 Consultant: This role is one I’m learning more about and feel more comfortable with every group I work with. Listening is a big part of this work. I work to resist jumping in when it’s important for those I’m serving to do most of the talking. With so many wise and experienced leaders, they don’t need me for much but look to me for confirmation and insights on their planning to really excel. Timely support and critical friend best describe this work.
🎓 Facilitator: Having 12 districts in a room with slightly different configurations requires a fine balance between structure and time. Much of the feedback we received suggested these teams often don’t get concentrated time to work together but we worked to provide the right amount of time, sprinkled with new learning that was used to spur them on. Constantly reading the room and making adjustments defines success in this role.
🎓 Teacher: I’m excited to be teaching again this semester. It’s been 4 years since I last taught a class. This semester I’m teaching EC&I 832 at the University of Regina. I’m specifically excited to explore the role of Generative AI in my work and my students. I shared some of my initial thoughts in both my syllabus and in our conversations. Being able to practice many of the ideas and beliefs I share in my day job makes this so rewarding.
🎓 Documentarian: I was privileged to spend Thursday working in West Vancouver Schools alongside with Cari Wilson who organized a beautiful morning with visits to 4 schools and 4 amazing teachers. We’re working on capturing their early learning around #genai and they all delivered thoughtful and insightful reflections that I hope to use to create some compelling short videos. Having the right questions and letting people share the things that matter to them helps push this into something people want to watch.
🎓 Presenter: I bookended my week with this role. This is the role I have the most experience in and feel most comfortable with. I opened the week with the operations team from Surrey Schools (School District #36 Surrey)#36 Surrey) and ended the week with high school teachers from Frank Hurt Secondary and Fraserview Secondary Schools. Both groups brought different dynamics and curiosities to the conversation but particularly with the high school teachers I felt and saw full engagement.
It was a nice way to finish a long week of work with this thank you from principal David Baldasso who used ChatGPT to help write this:
I would be remiss if I didn’t say a specific thank you to Adam Garry who has helped me fine-tune some of these “hats” as well as Alec Couros for supporting me in my work at the U of R.