Coffee and Selfies

There are many aspects of my job that are rewarding, but one that is at the top of my list in the ability to engage and empower teachers to be better versions of themselves for the betterment of teaching and learning. I am addicted to learning new ways to coach and develop learning opportunities that provide teachers a model for teaching and learning, but also personalized avenues for them to learn about topics and strategies that are both meaningful to them and will also challenge them.

I was given the ability to coordinate several PD events for our district this summer and CoffeeEDU has been one of my favorites. Today we hosted our second successful CoffeeEDU event with a Selfie Challenge Twist!

I had written a previous blog post (Coffee.Connections. and Conversations: How to Host a CoffeeEDU event) about the structure and preparations of our first CoffeeEDU event. We had success with the educators at our first event sitting in small groups and discussing meaningful and relevant topics. For this event, we wanted the opportunity for educators to do more networking, connecting, and communicating on a variety of topics. With some inspiration from my twitter PLN, the twitter selfie challenge was born.

Attendees were simply greeted at the event and provided a copy of the Selfie Challenge Board and the directions to meet and mingle with others that have met the criteria on the board. Once they discussed the topic and shared any ideas or resources, they were then asked to take a selfie and tweet it to our hashtag.

Those that completed the challenge were given a “Solid Gold Rock Star Trophy” aka plastic guitar from Oriental Trading, to commemorate their experience and congratulate them on being a connected educator! You can read and see images in the storify below. If you’d like an editable version of the template, direct message me on twitter @mandyeellis