I spent April 19 and 20 in Yoko­hama, Japan at the #beyond­lap­tops con­fer­ence. Inter­na­tional 1:1 edu­ca­tors from across Asia par­tic­i­pated in the con­fer­ence.  The con­fer­ence was very unique because it didn’t take the tra­di­tional con­fer­ence or work­shop for­mat with keynote speak­ers. Instead, par­tic­i­pants spent the two days con­vers­ing with one another and dri­ving the con­ver­sa­tion in what­ever direc­tion was most ben­e­fi­cial for the atten­dees.  There was an agenda, but it was made clear that the sched­ule was flex­i­ble and that proved to be true.
 At the con­fer­ence kick­off, Yoko­hama Inter­na­tional Schools  Head­mas­ter James Mac­Don­ald explained the think­ing behind the con­fer­ence. He stressed how the knowl­edge in a room full of edu­ca­tors is much greater than any one indi­vid­ual could bring to the room.  I think that such a phi­los­o­phy could help edu­ca­tors work through many chal­leng­ing issues. How­ever, it seems that pro­fes­sional devel­op­ment in this for­mat is rather unusual. We instead often cre­ate rigid sched­ules and stick to them at all costs. I have cer­tainly done so both as a teacher and prin­ci­pal. Those plan­ning pro­fes­sional devel­op­ment may care­fully want to con­sider some ways to take this more unstruc­tured approach to pro­fes­sional devel­op­ment.  It was well worth it for me, and the other par­tic­i­pants who spoke with me about the conference.

I hope to post resources from the con­fer­ence on this blog in the near future.  I’d also like to rec­og­nize Kim Cofino and the entire YIS staff for all of their work mak­ing the con­fer­ence happen!

Nick Sauers