Conference Tour – Day 1 – SCCAO

November 11, 2009 in education
Tags: education, science

I’m spending 4 days in a row at conferences. Today was SCCAO – Science Coordinators and Consultants Association of Ontario. It’s a meeting of school board science leaders from across the province. About 40 of us were on site 1 day before STAO begins in the morning. It was a really great meeting. There was lots to think about and ponder.

The day started with a workshop on Situational Leadership. This was a way to view the job that most of us do on a daily basis, and reflect on our leadership styles, and what we can do to get the most out of ourselves and the people we work with. It was likened to differentiated instruction for teachers when we can use different styles in different situations. Different levels of support and direction are required in various situations. It was very thought provoking and give me a new perspective on what I can do in my role.

Then we had a presentation from Smarter Science. This got me going! I’ve been working on a project that will allow our science teachers in our board to collaborate and work on lessons, ideas and anything else. Smarter science takes this idea to a whole new level. I’m not sure if it’s a great compliment to what I am planning to try and do, or whether its a better way to approach it altogether, but I’m excited to learn more. Its essentially a teacher driven, collaborative, social environment where we can post and share (via Creative Commons licensing) science resources to support the teaching in the Ontario Curriculum. They’ve also developed a partnership for mentoring with scientists via videoconferencing that looks to be an amazing development.

After our free lunch (who says there’s no such thing?) we had a series of updates and presentations from a variety of people. Ministry of Education updates on some things that are happening, particularly in the area of Environmental Education, vendor presentations, including Gizmos, Tomatosphere, Scientists in School and few others.

All in all a very productive, informative day for science leaders from the province to share ideas, and get to work together for a change. Now looking forward to STAO starting in the morning for the next phase of the conference circuit!