Last week, I had the pleasure of attending my fourth SXSW EDU in Austin, TX. As Ron Reed mentioned before introducing scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw as the opening speaker, the conference has grown significantly since 2011. Whereas in the beginning, it felt more focused on digital learning and ed-tech, this year felt more like it was a hub for relevant education conversations. Thus, organizers implicitly asked participants to choose their own adventure. And that they did.
For my part, I partook four events: a multilingual learner and teacher meet-up with Alejandra Vázquez Baur, a mentorship session focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion, and a book signing (I can’t believe This Is Not A Test is still selling well after a decade!). Oh, I also participated in a panel as a special advisor for Teachers Unify Against Gun Violence with Sari Beth Rosenberg, Kiki Leyba, and Kelly Booz of Share My Lesson/AFT. I’m grateful for new shoes, but mostly for the community, too.
People from various circles in my life, particularly my EduColor life, had found a few days out of the year to come under one umbrella and share in this multifaceted experience. While the world feels like we’re seeing calamities and disasters on a regular basis, it’s good to commiserate with people who see what you see and still have a sense of hope anyways.
More importantly, for fifteen years as a teacher, I attended hundreds of hours of professional development sessions. Now as a sociologist studying teacher professionalism, I get to keep attending hundreds of hours of professional development. Here are some takeaways from a structural perspective that’ll help inform everyone’s learning, or so I hope:
Subscribe to continue reading
Subscribe to get access to the rest of this post and other subscriber-only content.