Beijing Trip: Days 5, 6, and 7 (The Conference)

Flat Classroom Conference 2011, Beijing

Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, my time was devoted to the Flat Classroom Conference. I can now put "presenter at an International Conference" on my resume!!

Friday morning we kicked off the conference with opening remarks from Julie Lindsay, Vicki Davis and the principal of BISS. I was so inspired by their words and was just imagining how the next days would unfold. The teachers split from the students and the students began to work on their proposals for Flat Classroom Projects. I did not get to spend much time with the students, working mostly with the teachers in the Teacher Academy. I was very impressed with the concept of the the Teacher Academy; action based learning, where teachers actually participate in hands-on activities and leave with a completed project to use in their schools.

As for my part in the conference, I survived...... My cohort and I presented our story about Queen ADDIE and taught the teachers how to design instruction using the ADDIE model. The teachers seemed responsive to our information, signed up for their cohorts and began working on their instructional design proposal. I spent the rest of the conference working with each of the teacher groups and assisting them in their design process. Each day we ended the conference with FLAT talks, along the same lines as the famous TED talks. In these FLAT talks, students and presenters shared what they were doing to instill global citizenship and technology into the classroom. I thoroughly enjoyed each and every one of the talks, but my favorites were meeting students from the Think Global School and meeting the founder of TakingITGlobal.org.

It was also very interesting to see the students and teachers pitch their ideas to each other and get constructive comments back. I know that both sides of the party were very anxious about the process, but overall it seemed to be a very positive experience for all. By the end of the conference, I was so impressed with the amount of work the teachers and students were able to accomplish in a just a couple of days. There were some very creative and inspiring ideas that I hope they do not lose the momentum to continue.

All in all, the conference was huge eye-opener for me. International Baccalaureate schools did not even exist in my schema of education. It brought to light a very real issue in our world of the "haves" and the "have-nots". I don't know where I exist on the continuum, but I know that I do not want to look at this conference as only for IB or private schools. I think United States public school students can benefit greatly from attending something like this, if for no other reason than to open up their eyes to the world, like this experience did for me. I am going to have a hard time talking with West Des Moines teachers and their assumption that a Valley High School diploma is going to prepare students for an Ivy League school. They need more, they need to get out of Iowa, out of the United States and they need to see the world. That is the only true way that they are going to become competitive in the "flattened" global economy of the future.