“If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original.”— Sir Ken Robinson
Sir Ken Robinson. Courtesy photo.
CAMARILLO — Education should be based on an agricultural rather than an industrial model, according to Sir Ken Robinson, an educational visionary who will give the keynote speech at the Fourth Annual Better Together: California Teachers Summit on July 27.
The local Better Together will be held at CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) from 8:30 a.m. to 12:40 p.m. Registration is available from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m.
“We have to recognize that human flourishing is not a mechanical process,” Robinson wrote in The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. “It’s an organic process. And you cannot predict the outcome of human development. All you can do, like a farmer, is create the conditions under which they will begin to flourish.”
Robinson is speaking to the theme of this year’s event, “It’s Personal.”
“This year’s theme is really about individualized learning and the role teachers play in connecting to those individual needs,” explained CSUCI Teachers Summit Coordinator Dianne Wilson-Graham, who is also Executive Director of the California Physical Education – Health Project. “The summit provides teachers an opportunity to come together with their colleagues to share ideas, to think about their work in singular way based upon our yearly theme.”
The 31-campus statewide event gives any pre-K through 12 professional educator, administrator or student teacher a chance to be inspired, network, brainstorm and mingle with others who have also dedicated their lives to teaching. Higher education teaching professionals are also welcome, although the summit is more weighted toward pre-K through 12.
After registration and a continental breakfast, Robinson will launch the summit from this year’s headquarters, Cal State University Fullerton, with his keynote address streamed to the other campuses.
A teacher, writer, researcher and adviser, Sir Ken will speak about the need for a learning revolution that shifts education from standardized to personalized learning.
After his keynote, local educators connected with CSUCI will deliver presentations based on the “It’s Personal” theme.
CSUCI alumnus Yiu Hung Li, who teaches English, journalism and entrepreneurship at Foothill Technology High School in Ventura, is one of the speakers whose presentation is entitled: “See Change in Personalized Learning.”
Li plans to talk about what personalized learning looks like in a classroom environment by using examples from his own classes.
“I use project-based learning, which is essentially giving the students a project and not so much structure as support,” Li said. “For example, when we put out the Foothill Dragon Press, I give the students less of a structure, but more of a problem and a product and they figure out how to get there.”
The students run the program, he explained, while he makes sure the wheels get greased and is prepared to step in as a mentor if needed. His role is to provide practical and emotional support, but control of the final product and the problem-solving it takes to get there gives students a sense of mastery, he explained.
“I don’t touch the publication, the students do all that,” he said. “The students run the publication from top to bottom with their own organized system of hierarchy with editors and staff writers.”
The Summit will also include two “Ed Camp” sessions in which teachers break into groups to discuss various issues and/or ideas they may have in common.
The organizers hope all the educators will walk away with a renewed sense of purpose as they look toward the beginning of the 2018/2019 school year.
The summit is free of charge, but RSVPs are necessary as the capacity for this year’s summit at CSUCI is 300, and there are just a few spots left.
To register, visit:
To learn more: www.cateacherssummit.com.
About California State University Channel Islands: CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) is the only four-year, public university in Ventura County and is known for its interdisciplinary, multicultural and international perspectives, and its emphasis on experiential and service learning. CSUCI’s strong academic programs focus on business, sciences, liberal studies, teaching credentials, and innovative master’s degrees. Students benefit from individual attention, up-to-date technology, and classroom instruction augmented by outstanding faculty research. CSUCI has been designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution and is committed to serving students of all backgrounds from the region and beyond. Connect with and learn more by visiting CSUCI’s Social Media.