We all arrived at our host school, American International School in beautiful Budapest, Hungary on November 7, ready to kick off 2 days of incredible learning! We had 69 participants from 18 schools and 12 countries around Europe introducing themselves to each other and finding colleagues that had worked with in the past.
Friday was full of labsites, observations, note taking, reflection, and discussions. Our heads were swimming with ideas of how we could change some of our practices to shift our teaching towards a more inquiry mindset. We considered the 11 words and questions that the consultants offered us as provocations for our learning. We headed back downtown to Budapest and most of us enjoyed the city with a good dinner, a cruise down the Danube, or a walk around the majestic city!
On Saturday, we had the opportunity to debrief each labsite with the consultants to hear the “whys’ behind the decisions they made in real time during the lessons on Friday. We had observed the similarities between the three consultants – the questions they asked, the release of responsibility, the intentionality of their decisions, and their responsiveness as the children acted as the agents of their own learning. We were able to ask what they thought about direct vs explicit teaching, how to provoke curiosity and how much language can amplify learning. It was then time to turn this learning into an action plan. We all committed to make at least one change as we returned to the classroom and posted our commitments on our Padlet, knowing that the consultants would continue to support us after we returned back to our home schools.
Thank you to AISB for being amazing host for our awesome weekend of learning! Thank you to the 69 participants that elevated the learning with their passion and energy!
Please enjoy some testimonials about our time together!
