#ngconf : And you go dancing through doorways just to see what you may find, leaving nothing to interfere with the crazy balance of your mind

I know that it’s a random title for a blog post, but I urge you to stick with me! I grew up with Mint Sauce, the mountain biking sheep. The cartoon strip was published each month in Mountain Biking UK. Most months, the strip was thought provoking.

The strip above sums up some frustrations that many have with education: many stand around and talk but very little actually gets done. In other words:

It’s about behaviour, not devices.
It’s about learning, not tools.

There’s also quite a depressing message developing at many events: Teachers are rubbish at their jobs and are failing our pupils. There seems to be some mileage in saying how out of touch teachers are. Now, we all know that in some cases this is true. But, we need to start recognising that change is happening….

With this context, I’m pleased to say that the conference organised by Northern Grid was full of educators sharing what they are doing to support learning. In addition, both keynote addresses were thought provoking and orientated toward the future.

The format of the day was something slightly new – with short 30 minute sessions with two speakers sharing the topic.

The talk I delivered is below:

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High Impact, Low effort

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Banned Word Board

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David Rogers

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