Thursday 12 October 2017

What will you give? uLearn 2017 Brad Waid - Keynote speaker


Brad Waid’s keynote at #ULearn 2017 challenged and inspired the audience to give back, to share and to engage our students in order to be prepared for the future.   His gift to us came in the form of some thought-provoking questions, some engaging stories and some challenges for the future.


How well are we connecting with our students of the 21st century? Would your students share what they are learning in your classroom? Do they post about their learning on Instagram or Twitter?  As teachers of these 21st century students, it is our role to prepare them for their future, not the future that is now or the future that we understand.  If 65% of students entering school will be doing jobs that don’t currently exist, how are we supporting them to engage in that world?


“Make your classroom as dynamic as the world around us.”


You never know what will change a student’s life. Brad touched us with a story about how a positive teacher/student relationship and some engaging classroom tools transformed the world of a young boy.  Reaching our learners through the digital world, their world may just be the key. However, it is more than just using the right app with the right student. This particular change took place because of certain conditions that allowed it to happen.  The RULE acronym outlines such conditions in simple terms:
R  - relationships
U -  understanding
L -  learning
E -  environment / expression

And so to the challenge:  What will you give?
By sharing what we do, we benefit others. By being part of a community who talks about teaching and learning we increase the opportunities of transforming the lives of our students.  In this 21st century world we have the technology to make a difference, we just need to embrace it:

“Together we can change the world just by changing our minds”  Brad Waid

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