Yesterday I spent my Saturday hanging out with a couple hundred others sharing in a passion.  A passion for education!  Waking up early for some professional development isn’t what most people think of doing on their weekend; I mean isn’t being in school five days a week enough?  To go in for a sixth, that’s crazy, right?   Well, this was EdCamp (EdCamp Delta) – something I’ve learned you don’t pass up. 

EdCamp is a conference that is an unconference.  Bright eyed, bushy tailed, with caffeine in hand over 200 participants congregated in a high school library at Delta Secondary School; board members, administrators, teachers, parents, AND students!  Going in there are no set topics for discussion, everything is decided on the day in person.  Participants are encouraged to suggest topics they wish to discuss and post them on a bulletin board.  From there all participants are encouraged to vote on which topics they want to make happen.  Voting yesterday was done with stickers; each participant was given 4 stickers to place on the topics we wanted.  (Last year we were given post-it notes).   Then the fun begins, a short welcome for the day, you turn around and voila the schedule of the day is posted; room numbers, times, topics and all.  With a buzz in the air we were off!

If there were two words I could use to describe EdCamp they would be connections and reconnections.  

Making connections with the people I have spent the last few months with tweeting with.  Getting to put a face to a name.  Having this face-to-face interaction allows for deeper connections and relationships to be built.  I am able to embrace these newfound relationships, to embrace the energy and the drive that they provide me, to embrace the encouragement I have to try new things and to persevere when they’re not successful the first time.  These connections help rejuvenate me and my desire to challenge myself!  Sure, I’m still feeling a little burnt out, who doesn’t; but I feel that I can push through, break through the barrier and come out on top.

Of course there was plenty of opportunity to reconnect as well.  Not only was I able to reconnect with those I had met at previous EdCamps, I was able to reconnect with a fellow teacher that I had not taught with in the past couple of years, Tracey D.  We were able to reminisce about the times we had working together, how things always seem greener on the other side (why is that?).  We had a great time catching up on the changes we’ve both made professionally, along with the moves we’ve made in our personal lives.

Furthermore, I was able to reconnect with what is important, my passion for teaching!.  I have been struggling recently with frustrations that directly impact my self-importance and my teaching position.  These frustrations of course have an impact on my teaching, as a result affect my students learning.  It's not their fault I'm experiencing frustration, so why should they be the ones to suffer.  Well, yesterday gave me the opportunity to reflect and to reconnect with my desire to teach.  I became a teacher, not for the money, not for the politics but for the students.  To teach the students, to share their lives, to share their successes, and to share their failures; these are the reasons I became a teacher.  For the chance to make a difference. 

At the end of the day, I was exhausted.  I had been so thoroughly engaged my mind needed a break.  I took last night to sit and to reflect, of course jotting some notes down along the way.  I don’t want to forget all the valuable ideas that were shared.  I need to focus.  There are so many possibilities for change, that I couldn’t possibly implement them all without overwhelming myself or my students.  

Where do I want to focus my focus?  After a lot of thought, I have decided that I want to place more of an emphasis on inquiry-based learning and in Genius Hour.  It’s my hope that students will become more engaged and less passive in their learning.

I can do this!  I can and I will challenge myself and my students in our learning together.  I know I can do this; I have the support of those that I have connected with and reconnected with.

PS. If you ever have a chance to attend an EdCamp – DO IT!  Don’t pass up the opportunity to connect and to reconnect with those who share a passion for education.

PPS. Sign up for EdCamp35, it’s being held on April 12th, 2014 in Langley, BC.  I’ll be there, will you?

Okay, so this is an idea I’ve been toying with for quite sometime.  And I’ve decided to take the plunge.  I’ve decided to create and maintain a professional blog.  Is there a better way to start off the New Year?

I decided the best way to start off this blog is to start with a mini-autobiography and explanation of my reasons for creating a professional blog.

My name is D’Alice (pronounced Dallas) Marsh.  When I was in French Immersion my name drove me nuts; teachers would always pronounce it as if it were French  Meaning “of Alice” or “from Alice.”  Then I grew to love it and appreciate it.

I graduated with a BHkin in 2006 and my BEd in 2008.  My core subject areas at the time were PE and English with a highschool option.  Over the past two years though I’ve taught a lot of Math and Science.  And as of September 2013 I started my masters online through UBC, I am currently working towards completing a Masters of Educational Technology.

I have decided it is time.  After months of lurking and reading other educational blogs and lurking on twitter (now becoming more of a contributor).  I decided it was time to join the conversation and to share my learnings and my experiences with others.  

Now, I must say, this is not my first blog.  I do have a couple of class blogs and a personal blog, My Life, My Thoughts, My Words.  However, after a couple of months of a good run that quickly fell by the wayside.  So it will be my realistic goal, to post a minimum of once a month.  Don’t want to set myself up for failure.  Not to mention, I want to contribute things that are meaningful.

I am hoping to use this blog as a reflection of my own learnings.  It’s a strong belief of mine that we should all strive to be lifelong learners, continuously challenging ourselves to be better and not settle into a comfort zone.

I also thought it would be a good place to document my “learnings” and my thoughts while working through my masters.  Although I have yet to decide if I will publish all my thoughts and assignments.

A small disclaimer....This section goes into more details than most will want to read or to know.  Choose to read as much or as little as you want.  The reason I've provided so much detail, is that it's my experience that few educators have had little, to none, experience in with alternate school settings.

I currently teach at the POWER Program, an alternate school, in New Westminster, School District #40.  This is my third year here.  We have three semesters and teach September through July, going year round.  We have six teachers in the program, 3 teach 5 days a week with regular hours and 3 teach 4 days a week with extended hours 9:30-5:30.  I’m one of the ones with the extended days.  So I teach the equivalent of 5 days in 4, so I’m lucky enough to have Mondays off.  (Only this year my position was cut back and I’m only teaching a 0.9FTE, which has lead me back to TTOCing on Mondays to make up for the loss of income).

Our students come from a variety of backgrounds, aged 16-19 typically; mental health (autism, social anxiety, developmental, …), behavioral (corrections, D&A, ADHD, removed from home schools & districts), MCFD - often on independent living, and those that simply just don’t fit into the regular stream and need a schedule that will allow them to work to support themselves financially.

The one thing that most of our students have in common is that they are not at grade level.  We tend to have an inverted bell shape.  Many of our students have been out of school for years and are just returning, many have moved so many times that there were never able to complete anything, others excel with their supportive families and test at post-secondary levels.

Here I teach six courses a year, two each semester.  The courses I teach are Applications & Workplace Mathematics 10 and 11, Science 10, Earth Science 11, PE 10&12 Combination,  Photography 10 & 12 Combination.  I have also taught Science & Technology 11.

“When others ask, do you really teach?,” “ Why would you want to peg yourself as an alternate teacher?,” “ Could you not get a job anywhere else?”  My answer is “Yes,” “I’m not,” and “I could’ve”.  

POWER is a structured program, with classes, with class times, with absences, and with lates just like any other regular stream school.  This is what sets us apart from the majority of other alternate programs.  Not only are we teachers, we are ears to listen, we are the support our students need.  There is no denying there are days that are struggles for us and our students.  But there are no two days that are the same; and there are the awesome days!  The days we get to share moments with our students, the day a concept finally clicks after weeks of struggles, the day they decide to accept help with their addictions, the day they come in beaming with pride having worked really hard on a project.  Then there are those moments that we share as a community, sitting down and breaking bread with each other over a nice hot lunch, ice skating, bowling, going on fieldtrips to locations they would not be able to afford to go on their own.  

I once was afraid of pigeon-holing myself into an alternate position; but, that fear quickly dissipated.  During my BEd, I begged and pleaded to be able to spend a portion of my practicum in an alternate setting.  I got my wish.  There is something to be said about the meaningful relationships that are built within this setting.  You can see what a difference it makes in the lives of students who would not normally have a chance or an opportunity to graduate and to thrive in a learning environment.

As for getting a job somewhere else.  I was requested as a TTOC by a teacher within the POWER Program, and as it turns out it turned into a contract.  Since then, I haven’t looked back.  I’m sure I won’t spend my entire career in an alternate setting, I believe it is good to experience change to continuously challenge yourself, and on the difficult days I sometimes wonder why not get a position in the regular highschool.  But those thoughts go as quickly as they come.

I thought for the rest of the “Who I Am” I’d make a mindmap.  I was brainstorming using a mindmap, and then thought it’d be less threatening to post it instead of writing more.  The mindmap was created using SimpleMind+.

I hope that through this journey I am able to help contribute to discussions in education, while sharing my own thoughts and experiences.  (I will also limit the length of future posts, trying to be mindful of words dragging on.)