On the eve of #educon

I've been inspired by tweets about #EduConText to post my reflections on this eve before my first EduCon.

I'm incredibly excited about the events of this upcoming weekend. I first heard of Educon when I was at NTCamp 2010 in Philly headed out to lunch with a few folks. They told me that if I was enjoying NTCamp, that I had to check out Educon. I signed up sometime in October I think and have been looking forward to it particularly since after EdCampNYC occurred on 12/4/10.

I'm a pre-service teacher scheduled to student teach at SLA this coming spring. I requested SLA for my placement because of what I've heard about their learning community. I have not, as of today, seen it for myself. Tomorrow, I will be meeting my future cooperating teacher and students and getting an initial feel for the school where I will spend 12 weeks of my life learning how to be a teacher by actually trying to be a teacher. On some level, I'm nervous in the way a soon to be bride might be nervous. Will I get there and have cold feet? Will I decide I've made a mistake? Are my expectations so high that I'm bound to be disappointed? These are all the things that are running through my mind this afternoon.

I'm in my 4th quarter of graduate classes and have learned a lot about myself as a student since I started in March 2010. The realizations that have impacted me the most have been regarding the fact that I did really well on exams throughout my schooling without being able to articulate the concepts. I've learned that they ways in which I was taught are not the most effective. I've decided that I want to be a different type of teacher than those who taught me. I see the inquiry driven, problem based learning environment of SLA as the perfect place to dive right in and hopefully break out of the paradigm in which I grew up. As I mentioned in a previous post though, I'm a bit scared. And frankly, I think on some level, I should be! This career change isn't a whimsical one for me. It's one that will help me to fulfill my childhood dream of becoming a teacher. It has the potential to bring aspects of my self and the things I value most back into alignment. It's exciting and terrifying at the same time.

For me, #Educon is another step along this new path that I'm on. I'm looking forward to meeting new people and seeing some familiar faces. I look forward to participating in some lively conversations. I'm excited to see and experience first hand some aspects of SLA about which I've heard such wonderful things.

Safe travels everyone and see you there!