An Open Letter to the Concord Education Fund

Dear Concord Education Fund,

Today was the final day of the Building Learning Communities '09 conference. I want to thank you for funding our eight person team, and one of the most profound learning experiences of my professional life.

For three days our team was immersed in an extraordinary journey of challenge, discussion, and vision. I felt like my head was going to explode with fresh ideas, new digital tools, links, collaborative groups, and new ways of looking at familiar concepts. Each night I returned home beaten to a pulp by the best thinkers in education. Awesome!

The generosity of this grant enabled a group of teachers and administrators to gather for three days, and learn about the possibilities of education fueled by new technologies. Ways to engage students in their learning and prepare them for a global economy that seeks innovation, flexibility, creative thinking, collaboration, extraordinary communication and presentation skills, and authentic opportunities. It is incredibly exciting!

Our team would gather and fire ideas, questions and proposal at one another. "Did you hear this..." "What if we tried something like..." "Would you partner with me in trying this out..." "I get it now..." "Wait, you have to hear this...""This app is so cool you have to download it - now!"

Our vocabulary changed as we were introduced to the evolving educational practice of this new age. Informate, Fantastic!, radiating possibilities, Twitter Fall, cloud computing, Bump, back channel, project based learning, Rule #6 - the list goes on.

Good work is already underway in our schools, and our task is to build upon our strong base to form a fresh path for the students of Concord, Carlisle and Boston. We can accomplish so much in guiding our students toward learning about their global community, giving them the skills to become fluent in the new ways of the digital future, partnering with students and their families in looking forward and embracing the changes that are upon us.

There is much work ahead, and it is a privilege to be a part of it. My conference notes (rough as they are) can be found on this blog. Search the tag BLC09 for all notes, all with links, if you care to take a peek at this journey.

Thank you again for supporting this grant. Have a wonderful August, take a trip to the library to pick up some books, join CCHS One School One Book in reading Three Cups of Tea, and don't forget the sunscreen!

Robin