In May of this year, I purchased a FitBit Flex - a device to wear around my wrist that would help me to track my daily steps taken, nightly rest cycles, and to give me daily silent reminders through a vibrating alarm. Some teachers use the FitBit or other health trackers to ensure that they are up and moving all day. While my FitBit has certainly reminded me to get up and get moving more, I have found another use for it while teaching.

So, confession time: I am a very forgetful person when it comes to timing, scheduling, and keeping track of items like my keys. I could probably lose my keys while my car is running... it's that bad. So, if a brilliant moment of learning is going on, I completely forget that I am supposed to remind Student X to go take her ADHD medication or for Student Y to go to his small group lesson for Learning Support.  As I have settled into my new class for the year, I have several students who need reminders throughout the day about specific things, whether to check in with me on a behaviour issue, check in at the office for medication, or just to be sent to the Learning Support room for extra assistance with academic or social skills.

I have begun setting my FitBit silent alarms to go off throughout the day to remind me to do those things. That way, when I feel the device buzzing on my wrist, no one else hears it, and I can gently remind the student about what they need to go do, even if it is in the middle of something else important for the rest of the class.

I know this is a tiny tip, but it has already helped me enormously with remembering all of the "little things" that we teachers do to accommodate student needs. I hope it helps you, too!

Each of the sketches, words, and quotes on this sketchnote have held some significance for me in the past two weeks. I fully and truthfully admit: my passionate fire for education is back. While I'm still aware of the deficiencies of our system, no one is stopping me from loving my job anyways.

I think it’s important to continue to have conversations about gratitude in education. In fact, these conversations have already been happening (check out the archive from #bcedchat’s discussion on Educational Gratitude). This has stuck out to me since things have gotten so busy again: if we don’t stop to be thankful and focus on the positive, we can very quickly lose ourselves in the negatives that we all know exist.

Please comment below with some of your moments of gratitude from your job, or better yet, a link to a blog post full of those moments!

This is a post I said I’d never write. I said I’d never include politics in my blog. Ever.

However, the fact stands that my blog is also a place for my reflection on my professional practice, and this is a situation in which I feel I cannot silently sit and merely internalize what is going on. I would actually define this post more as political impact on me as an individual than anything that would define my political views, though. So, here it goes:

This BC Teachers’ Strike defeated me. I say this as I look back on many months of consciously pulling away from social media, from blogging, from doing better work in my classroom. It has pulled me away from trying new lessons with engaging tools, from collaborating with other educators, and from personally feeling gratified with my choice of career. It has, in a phrase, temporarily deflated my passion toward teaching.

This job action experience, which has stretched back since early April of this year, began to highlight the ways in which our government devalued our profession. Now, don’t get me wrong, these were facts that I was already well aware of. So you don’t like teachers? Great, that’s your call... Moving right along.

But when those facts and opinions continue to get shoved in your face day in and day out, or it affects your job every day you start to feel pretty low. Oh, and the whole letting-down-kids, public ridicule, lock-out, not-getting-paid, piece? Yeah. Pretty low.

My biggest problems:

1. I had no control over anything that was happening to my students, my colleagues, or myself.
   
2. I was addicted to reading about it. 
   
   

I read everything I could get my hands on… about all of the things I couldn’t control. The latest move by the BCTF, the latest press conference by the government, opinion blogs, news articles, you name it. I would silently chastise media for focusing so much on wages and signing bonuses (which I could give a rip about) and their lack of focus on class size & composition issues, especially in the beginning. I would be glued to the #bced Twitter feed in all of its disgusting BCTF-vs.-Liberal-troll: Who’s-gonna-win-tonight glory. It was one of those things that you just shouldn’t look at.

But I couldn’t look away.

The things I read silenced me. Mean things. Nasty things. Lumping teachers all into the same, greedy, only-6-hour-workdays, only-work-9-months-per-year, lazy category. The worst part is… I  began to believe them.

Despite working on the professional development of others for much of the summer, I did very little to professionally develop myself. This was unusual for me. I started getting blocks in my thinking patterns every time I tried to imagine new lesson ideas in my head. My motivation for the program design work I had set up for myself at the end of last year began to evaporate, and quickly.

I started to quiet myself. Slow down. I did very little to add value to the online communities that I continue to hold in high regard. The social media outlets that I used to share prolifically to, I do no more. My blog archives became relatively empty when compared to the same time last year. I had nothing more to give, lest I be criticized. False hope pervaded every turn that we would be back again soon. I was hurt.

They defeated me. And I let them do it.

This week, real hope showed its face in BC education. Naturally, things started to change as the need to be prepared for the school year kicked back in. I have started reworking my grand plans that I hatched at the end of last school year. I am becoming excited once again about designing new programs for my classroom. I am cautiously regaining my optimism toward my career choice. The future certainly looks brighter. The time to start healing is now.

As we wait for the results for the potential ratification of an agreement, I can say I have begun to do just that. I know so many teachers in BC are hurting right now and that I am not alone. 

If you are not yet feeling on the road to recovery, join this challenge with me: take note of that first moment this school year where you burst with absolute joy in your classroom, school, or district because of your job. Write down a gratitude list for those moments that remind you why you love your career. Even for just the first week. 

I am using this strategy to heal the wounds; as deep as they have become, they shall heal. I look forward to sharing my list very soon to continue healing with BC educators… together.

I'm sitting in the Atlanta airport this morning. As I wait for my delayed flight, I decided it was time to get some thoughts down. At least I was one of the lucky ones who got a seat beside an outlet to charge my devices.

I learned some things from ISTE, but not in the way that you would suspect. Usually people attend conferences to go to every session that they possibly can. The truth is, I've never done really done that at any conference. But then again, I've never been to so few sessions at a conference, either.

I can say going to only a few sessions was one of the best decisions I made throughout the time I spent in Atlanta. Not that there weren't great sessions to attend - the sheer amount of amazing individuals that presented was overwhelming. The point was that the sessions that I would have went to were all people that I'm already connected with on Twitter. The concepts they were speaking about were things that I could learn in my pajamas at home. Why would I waste valuable time that i could otherwise spend actually connecting with these individuals face to face? 

And the cool part? This strategy led to some very cool things. Things like improptu, delicious lunches with great conversations. Things like playing with Little Bits and building awesome stuff in the Blogger's Cafe with Robert Pronovost. Things like actually getting to sleep in a little bit because it was really easy to stay out and talk to people late.

I got to meet A LOT of people. I got to reconnect with A LOT of people. It was super cool just to walk through the conference center, or even downtown Atlanta, and just run into people from your PLN. 

For next year - yes, there will be a next year - I have some recommendations for my future self... and if this can help someone else, then great! 

You cannot be in two places at once... and that's okay.

I struggled a lot with FOMO during my first ISTE. There was so much going on and so many people that I wanted to spend time with that I pushed the envelope on the times that I needed to be in certain places. Needless to say, this plan didn't work out, and it didn't work out a few times. Initially, I had a hard time accepting that I couldn't be everywhere, but what I did get to do was fantastic.

Make time for specific people that you want to connect with further.

If it's important, schedule it. And don't make the mistake of pushing it too close to other obligations like I did. There are people that are on the top of my list to connect with next time for sure.

Blend in some "flex time".

Some of the best parts of the week were those that were unplanned. If someone asks you to go for an impromptu lunch, go. Seriously. The richness of discussions over food and drink was where the magic really happened at this conference. From sharing tech tools to insecurities to bigger picture issues in the edtech world, relationships were built even if there was no expectation to do so initially. That was pretty fantastic. 

Cute shoes are stupid because... walking.

Okay, so stupid is a harsh word, but let's just say I'm sticking with cozy all week next year. ISTE = insane amounts of walking. I wore cute shoes for ONE day - the day of my poster presentation - and experienced my first bl-ISTE-s. And that was Day 2. Oops.

Go to a local sports event or tourist attraction.

I had the opportunity to go to the Atlanta Braves vs. New York Mets baseball game while I was at ISTE. I absolutely adore live sporting events and love checking out different stadiums/field/arenas. I could have done without the Braves fans' Tomahawk chop, though. Seriously... that's messed up.

Do a photowalk.

Photowalks are great for helping you explore the city and all it has to offer. Our group shot some beautiful spots and fabulous architecture in Atlanta. And more than that, we found out where the places we wanted to visit were. I wish we would have had more time to actually do so... I'd love to check out the Aquarium and the Civil & Human Rights Museum.

I'm sure I could come up with many more things to recommend to myself for next year, but my lack of sleep is protesting against my will to write. Until next year, ISTE. It's been a slice!

I’ve always known that I’m NOT the best teacher for every kid in my class. However, I've always been someone who’s worked to be the best teacher that I can be for them. At different times in the year, I've learned that I'm falling short of being the best that I can be for some of my kids. So what can I do? ...It’s not like those kids are going to disappear from my class!

Like any effective teacher, I will change my approach for them. I will mold. Adapt. Flex. Find new and exciting projects or activities that will pique curiosity, motivate, and engage those students. We all know that these changes don’t come easily, or even quickly. They take hard work and determination.

But what happens for me when I try these new things… these new pedagogical tricks and strategies? When I give the integration of a new technology a go? When I experiment with passion-based projects and their associated organized chaos?

Well… here’s the long and short of it: It just might not work.

Actually, most of the time it doesn’t work. Sometimes this is because I am a self-proclaimed ‘program skimmer’; I don’t like to read the instruction manual before attempting to build the model. More often than not, it’s because the technology that I’m tinkering with doesn’t work the way I had envisioned it to (the NERVE!). But the bottom line is that I fail in my classroom in front of my kids... ALL THE TIME.

So why am I sharing this? Isn't a teacher's blog a place where shining and celebratory ideas are shared? Where pristine examples of lessons are glowing with positive commentary and reviews?

Umm, nope. Nope, nope, and nope. And if yours is like that, you’re not sharing the hardships. We all have them… And we need to share them.

Just like me, you’re probably not the best teacher for every kid. That’s okay. Remember: that which we share is that which will allow us to learn, grow, and expand. Let’s celebrate and embrace moving out of our comfort zone in teaching. 

Bill Selak and I have been chatting a lot on the topic of modeling innovation and educational risk-taking on Voxer. We both feel that it is important to innovate within your teaching practice, reflect, and have a space to share and feel supported in BOTH your eduwins and edufails. Join us on Twitter by using the hashtag #EdFailFwd as we try to help ourselves and others to deal with the everyday obstacles we encounter in our jobs and move forward. Let’s #EdFailFWD together! 

The inaugural EdCamp35 was held in Langley, BC at R.E. Mountain Secondary this past Saturday. I had a lot of fun preparing for this event with the rest of the EdCamp35 planning team, who dedicated countless hours to ensuring that the event would be a success. 

I have to admit that leading up to the event, I was extremely nervous for the day to come. This was the first edcamp that I'd really had a hand in planning (I did a tiny bit of work for EdCampWest Online last year) and of course, I wanted it to be a progressive and useful day for the attendees. The planning team worked very hard to emphasize the adoption of suggesting and voting for professional development that you wanted and/or needed, of open conversations rather than presentations, of voting with your feet, and of building empathy and networking with different educational stakeholders in order to find alternative perspectives on education.

There were plenty of registrants from our own district representing all areas in education - teachers, administration, support staff, student teachers, parents, students, school trustees, and district leadership. (When your District Leadership Team shows up AND sits in sessions to listen, you know your district is headed in a good direction!) We also had incredible representation from all over the Lower Mainland, the island, the Sunshine Coast, and we even had an international showing! 

So, the actual day? It rocked. The honest truth is that any edcamp is driven by the participants in it... of which, as I mentioned earlier, we had a lot of awesome ones. Here are my awesome eduwins, thanks to those folks:

Getting to hang out and throw together the details with an awesome planning team? Check.

Meeting the #bcedchat mod team face-to-face -- the first time all four of us were ever in the same room? Check.

That feeling when all of the technological workflows that you set up for the day actually work? Check. (Okay, so this was a personal win for me, though my PLN did get involved a little bit. Also, see our shared documents here.)

Having awesome conversations that expanded my thinking? Check.

Getting to meet so many members of my PLN that I had talked to extensively online? Check.

And now, 2 days later, there has been a particular influx of poetry on social media (yes, poetry - you know who you all are) in reflection on the EdCamp35 experience, so here is my little contribution:

I would like to end this post by thanking the planning team for EdCamp35. Events like these would never be made possible without the amazing support that we received in our district. A special thanks goes to Magdy Ghobrial, Ngaire Leaf, Nick Ubels, Chris Wejr, Shawn Davids, and Katherine Mulski for their devotion, attention to detail, sense of humour, and pure awesomeness that you brought to this experience. I can't wait to work with you all again next year.

Thank you to all that attended EdCamp35! I'm loving the incredibly reflective blog posts, emails, and feedback that our team has been getting from the attendees.  Keep 'em coming!

Happy "connected educator" anniversary to me!  It's been exactly a year since I stumbled into my first #edchat and #patue chats, which inspired me to start my own blog. 

That's where this journey of transformative career growth truly began for me. On this day last year, I think I was following 30 people and probably had the same amount of tweets. One year later, I find myself reflecting on the professional journey I've taken and I am considering some thoughts:

• I became seemingly unconnected to suddenly connected; what changed for me that day? 
  
• Why did I keep coming back for more?
  
• How did Twitter and blogging transform my practice?
• How do I feel now?

Unconnected To Connected: What Changed For Me That Day? 

Nothing really changed about me as a person that day. Or the next. Or the next. 

What changed was the tools I used to get the job done (the job being to find resources and ways to professionally develop myself and grow as an educator).  I came into that situation with a growth mindset and I learned about a place that would feed that motivation. Most social media users are motivated to be present, participate, help, and share. Some watch from afar (AKA lurking), and that's cool, too, but the general idea is that everyone there is trying to grow their pedagogy and practice.

Why Did I Keep Coming Back For More?

Twitter was easy, fun, and I could access what I wanted, whenever I wanted, through the power of a hashtag. I could connect with educators I didn't know, chat with ones that I did, and even make new connections in my own district through it. 

Because of the list of Twitter educational chats curated by Jerry Blumengarten, Chad Evans, and Thomas Murray, I had access to several topical areas in education that I may be interested in. This list guided me on many occasions so I knew which hashtags to use for specific questions I had.

How Did Twitter and Blogging Transform My Practice?

When I jumped into the Twitter world, I dove in head-first and prolifically tweeted for the first 4-6 months...

Twitter chats. Impromptu discussions. Questions to hashtags. Late night work crew. Google HangOuts. Online edcamps. 

The pedagogical ideas and philosophies that are offered through these networks of educators on social media only scratch the surface of what became a transformative change in my practice. Blogging helped me to reflect on how I designed learning opportunities with my students and how I approached specific situations. Discussions with educators from varying regions helped me to gain a huge appreciation for my own province, district, and school settings by being exposed to other educational climates and their respective challenges. Connecting with these peers at local and global levels also held me accountable to my word -- when I told someone that I was going to try something, I really had to try it -- I did say it on the Internet, after all!

Advice for newer edu-folks taking this road: The tools are aplenty and the ideas can be overwhelming. Take what you need and take a break when you need it. Social media and those motivated & sharing educators will still be there when you come back. Check out this post by David Truss that outlines (literally) everything you need to know about tapping into Twitter as a professional development tool.

How Do I Feel Now? 

My feelings, one year later? One word: grateful.

I'm grateful for my PLN and all that they've done for me. I'm grateful that they are better than Google or any educational database out there when I'm looking for that one thing that's going to make that lesson pop. I'm grateful that I have support locally and globally on my students' and school's initiatives. I'm grateful for the opportunity to travel, present, and share the stories of my students and to learn about the students of others. And most of all, more than anything, I am grateful for the connections that have blossomed into incredible friendships. 

So, PLN, thank you. We all stand on the shoulders of giants, and you're mine. 

I know my blog is named "Tech Teacher on a Mission", but every once in awhile I like to post other classroom ideas that have not very much to do with technology.  Consider this as your forewarning that this post is one of the "non-techy" ones, but it is by and large one of the coolest things that happens in my classroom. This idea has been adopted from my practicum experience in a multi-aged (Grades 1, 2, & 3) classroom and is now used weekly with my Grade 3/4s.

The concept is simple: a class meeting. That's it. Seemingly, it's nothing groundbreaking. But, like anything, it's all about how you frame the learning that makes it so powerful.

As an aside, I purposefully set up a lot of unfair and unstructured environments in my classroom that allow students to design the rulings within the space. For example, the job chart is a hot mess of disorganization in September, there is no set regulations on turn-taking in our classroom comfortable reading space, and there is certainly no order as to who gets the high honour of turning off the lights when we leave the classroom. These are things that are very important in the eyes of my students as they can cause social duress... Small people, small fights.

So I use Class Meeting as a place for my students to govern their own school experience. The activity is designed to allow them to make rules within the classroom to help it run more effectively.  These can include regulations that may positively impact their safety, learning, or social experience. My students run the Class Meeting session completely from start to finish. I model this at the beginning of the school year by using a loose framework of Robert's Rules of Order. 

1) Set-Up & Orientation

I always begin Class Meeting by setting my students up in some type of circular format so that everyone can see the person who is speaking. We do this on an open mat area on the floor, but if space is limited, moving desks into a circle works just fine, too. It is most important that the Chairperson and Secretary sit in a space where they can make eye contact with each person attending the meeting.

The meeting runs once every week, and is used to create new rules, amend or abolish old ones (the kids use this language!), or to re-visit unsettled business from a previous meeting.

2) Selecting a Chairperson

When modelling this, I highly emphasize that the chairperson is a responsible student who has the ability to manage the meeting. There are many speaking and listening challenges integrated within this role, as well as social expectations surrounding leadership.

The Chairperson is the student whom the meeting centres around, as they will be the one who keeps the entirety of the meeting on track, setting the agenda, and moving through that agenda within half an hour of time.

The Chairperson lets the class know that business has officially begun. Several students raise their hands to suggest topics:

• "Daily 5"
• "Using technology"
• "Line ups"
• "Math Centres"

These are among several topics that are brought up in my classroom. Each student's name and topic is recorded by the secretary (typically me, but I have had students do this job in the past) before any are discussed formally. We usually can get through 5-6 topics in half an hour.

4) Carrying out the Agenda

The Chairperson calls upon the first order of business recorded and that student will present their rule to the class. The Chairperson then paraphrases their rule back to the student to clarify what the follow-up discussion will be. Once the presenting student consents with the rule description...

Student hands fly up to ask questions of the presenter and to vocalize their support or rebuttal for the rule itself, stating evidence that backs up their opinions. By pushing for the "why", students will begin to see alternate viewpoints and consider how the rule may impact others, ultimately helping them to develop empathy and to exercise social problem-solving skills. Typically, the Chairperson limits the question and support/rebuttal commentary to three students, but if it is a hot topic or more discussion is required, they will allow for additional dialogue.

Votes are carried out after each rule is proposed, summarized, questioned, and defended. Sometimes rules will change on the fly depending on the line of questioning. In these cases, the Chairperson is responsible for clarifying the rule being voted upon before the vote occurs. Students are taught the difference between 'Yes', 'No', or what it means to 'Abstain' one's vote in the first few meetings and are encouraged to use their own voice to vote for what they believe in, not just to follow their friends.

In the event of a tie, the chairperson (who does not vote in the original rule election) must vote to break the tie. Remember, rules can always be amended or abolished at later meetings if they're a point of contention. As a teacher, I will often re-propose these topics at later meetings to see how opinions have shifted on topics in the classroom.

The students repeat going through each rule proposal, summary, questioning, and defense until the entirety of the agenda is carried out.

5) Closing

My students close the Class Meeting with what I like to call the Self-Esteem Circle, but it can really be any variation of speaking and listening activity with a talking piece. With a mirror in hand, they state one thing they like about themselves, and pass the mirror along to their neighbour telling one thing they like about them. This continues around the circle until it has been passed to every set of hands in our classroom, making sure that each person is included in the activity. We've also done this as a Gratitude Circle. This small, but effective activity has built up a ton of friendly community in the room, and the kids are adamant that the adults are included, too!

I am also intending on creating a how-to video on Class Meeting this year so that other classes can see how self-regulated and powerful this activity is for us. Engaging students in critically thinking about the social governance of their learning space is a powerful way to put the importance of community into their hands.

I've been having an immense struggle this year. It's a real case of FOMO, pedagogy-style.

I've been stopping, observing, and listening in awe of what my colleagues are doing with their students.  I've been watching, sometimes helplessly, as opportunities to do more amazing things with my kids pass me by. Or even more than that, seeing strategies that could make my current practice better. As I see all of the incredible demonstrations of learning going on in the classrooms on Twitter, I can't help but feel like I'm not performing to my full potentials as a classroom teacher... But I simply cannot take on any more commitments this year.

I know I'm hard on myself. I know that we are our own worst critics. I know it's a marathon, not a sprint. I'm only a third-year teacher, after all; I have a lot of career ahead! So I'm going to say from the outset of this post that I know it needs to stop. But I think that the idea behind this is worth sharing.

When this feeling of FOMO is happening, I become increasingly aware of the things, both big and little, that are not working in my classroom. I've become so acutely observant of this fact that it sometimes feels torturous to deliver any semblance of poor pedagogy. However, I cannot address every one of those "things" because it's just not feasible to do so at this very moment. Maybe it will happen by the end of the year, but I cannot address it with the immediacy that I wish to. 

For example, I still deliver math drills in my Grade 3/4 room... Guilty as charged. In fact, I delivered one today. Here's my thinking:

• Is this the best way for students to showcase their learning in a student-centred way? No. 
  
• Does this method lend itself to some, if any, formative assessment on procedural numeracy strategies? Not likely.
• Is my students' thinking visible? No. 
  
• Is it helping them to reinforce some form of immediacy and procedural knowledge for their future in education as far as numeracy skills are concerned? Kind of. 
  
• But if I think it's so wrong, why am I doing it in the first place? In our math lessons, there is immense difficulty with fact computation for several students. Some need a lot of extra practice with the basics. The drills only take up 5 minutes of the week.
• Can I fix this all RIGHT NOW? ... No. 
  
• Why can't I fix it right now? Because I'm trying to fix other things in my classroom that take priority over this issue.
  

Welcome to the hyper-analytical cycle that occurs in my brain. This is a problem. And I've been reflecting on this... A lot. I'm not looking for an answer to fix that example I just provided. I just can't say "yes" to accommodating that right now. It's not a priority over other things that I can effect and make change on in bigger ways.

I used to think that people were weak if they didn't say "Yes" to cool opportunities for their classroom that crossed their path. I'm now learning that prioritization and balance are one of the most important skill sets that an educator can possess. I am highly considerate of the things that I say "yes" or "no" to now because I have to be. But it shouldn't take a forced hand to consider that balance for oneself. 

This post is intended as a confession that my personal skills in this area are weak. You just cannot do it all. I'm building those prioritization skills up as I balance work, grad school, extracurricular commitments like the EdTech Mentorship Network, presentations, #bcedchat, and sharing my classroom. Oh, and that little thing called a personal life. :)

In closing, I'm sure this is something everyone already knows, but it never hurts to be reminded of:

It's okay to say "No". It's just not always easy to.

Things that don't suck: "Things That Suck" sessions in EdCamps. 

Before I attended EdCampDelta today, I was pointed toward this post on Things That Suck sessions by Bill Selak, an awesome educator from California. Then I received a demanding tweet from Karl Lindgren-Streicher and Kristen Swanson saying that a Things That Suck session had to go down at EdCampDelta today.

Problem: I had never even been to one of these sessions before, let alone facilitating one of these conversations! But hey, why not just dive into learning something new? After all, isn't that what EdCamp is all about?

So I downloaded Bill's slidedeck of topics to cover in the session and tweaked a couple of them to be more relevant to our work in BC schools. If you didn't read Bill's post, the basic premise is that the room is divided into two camps - things in education either SUCKING or ROCKING - making clear your stance on the specific debate topic based on where you stand in the room. I did give a nod to the grey area crowd as well, where I stand on quite a few issues myself. The facilitator then would have folks justify their opinions on the topic at hand and have a friendly debate about it. Participants can move about the room as they choose based on the points coming up in the conversation.

BUT. There's always a BUT... 

Most of the participants in the room were students. In a room that was quite full, I would actually say that well over half of them were students. Some of them had NO IDEA what some of the topics even were, including topic related to technology! After having to explain a few topics to them like Technology Carts, the New BC Curriculum, Interactive Whiteboards, and ePortfolios, I made a quick realization:

Cue the cool idea in my head that has a lot of potential:

EdCamp is based on the idea that we should come choose our own conversations to have around professional development, right? So why not have participants select topics that they actually want to have a debate about before the session begins? It's really no big deal to discuss and throw those suggestions into a Google presentation or a Keynote in a matter of minutes as the participants trickle into the room! And voila - your conversations are tailored to the needs of the participants - it's like an EdCamp within an EdCamp! (#MetaCamp? :) I digress.)

More than that little idea, Chris Wejr later pushed me to consider that the "fence-sitters" should have to decide at some point on which side of the topic that they're going to pick to debate. Keep in mind that they can move as the discussion continues, but this promotes an increased amount of conversation and thought, even if one is forced to play devil's advocate (I did for a few topics, and it was really fun). 

Either way, our Things That Suck session was incredibly infused with ever-valuable student voice, insightful parents, and amazing educators. I had a lot of fun and learned a ton! 

Thanks to the organizers of EdCampDelta for a fun-filled day of conversation, discovery, and learning. My other three sessions were also fantastic and I just can't wait for EdCampWest and EdCamp35 coming up in the spring!