“If a teacher thinks in the forest, does he/she make a sound?”
A diverse collection of Canadian educators with experience that spans primary, elementary, secondary, and post-secondary classrooms, answered that very question at ‘UnPlug’d: Canadian Education Summit’.
UnPlug’d delegates gathered amidst the concrete of downtown Toronto, before making their way to Northern Edge Algonquin, a retreat on the northwest corner of Algonquin Park. By the time the weekend was over, participants had traveled by plane, train, bus, kayak, canoe, and mountain bike, all in order to connect with transparent learners who embrace opportunities to think, learn, and teach.
By unplugging from their highly networked personal and professional lives, participating Canadian change agents:
reflected on personal and professional learning while forging connections to the learning stories of other participants;
shared stories of small scale innovation with colleagues who are similarly engaged in discovering what matters most in teaching and learning;
transformed digital relationships through face-to-face encounters, strengthening the loose ties that bind us as networked Canadian educators;
went deeper with ideas than might otherwise be possible, amidst the hush of a natural, purely Canadian setting;
came to appreciate what it means to be a teacher and learner in Canada, both today, and for tomorrow.
“But did it make a sound?”
A multitude of conversations, stories, and ideas will resonate from the UnPlug’d experience. One artifact of the collective wisdom of the group is this document: “Why blank Matters” which was first published on the heels of the summit.
