Photos from @edcampSG in Singapore over the weekend. Thanks to @KimBeeman @TanglinTrust @library_TTS for hosting!

www/bit.ly/edcampsg

Yay for another global edcamp experience! It was so awesome to be a part of edcampSG in Singapore and connect with educators from a few different countries around SouthEast Asia. Kim Beeman and her fabulous team at Tanglin Trust School‘s libraries hosted the event. We had a lovely turnout! I always say that whoever shows up to either the event or to a particular session are the “right people.” That is not to say that others are “wrong people,” just that the people who are there are the meant to be there for that conversation or that experience.

There were only a few people at edcampSG who had ever experienced an unconference before, nevertheless attendees jumped in, and the session board filled up with interesting topics. Throughout the day, rooms were filled with lively discussions and opportunities for teachers to share resources and best practices with each other. We had a large paper session board that I migrated to a digital Google Sheet linked from the edcampSG website. Each cell of the spreadsheet included the name of the session and a link to a Google Doc so attendees could collaborate and gather shared notes from each session. I stressed that while the Law of Two Feet is an important part of any unconference or “open space” experience, I always take it personally when people leave the room. Haha. Seriously though, even if you’re not in the room, you can still learn from that conversation by checking out the #edcampSG hashtag (and the @edcampSG account) on Twitter and glancing through the notes from any particular conversation. Thank you to everyone who helped with the notetaking!

It was awesome that Sylvia Martinez could join too! She was in Sydney last week and will be in Singapore this week for World Edu Lead, so it was such a special experience to hang out at edcamp and afterwards for a few meals and some sightseeing. 😻

Finally, one of the attendees talked about launching edcampNingbo next year! I counseled her to establish a Gmail address and a Twitter account in order to start planning for her event. After confirming a date and location, everything will follow from there. That was pretty much the best thing that could happen after an already really awesome event. 🙂

Photos from @TaglinTrust’s libraries tour with @KimBeeman today! #Singapore #libchat #GlobalEd

I’m in Singapore for the weekend! I visited schools and libraries with Kim Beeman, Head of Libraries at Shrewsbury International School in Bangkok. Many thanks to Katie Day, Head of Library at UWCSEA East in Singapore for helping to coordinate our visits and hosting us!

After visiting Dulwich College Singapore and Singapore American School earlier in the day, our third school visit was at Tanglin Trust School. Suzanne Parfitt of the Upper School Library kindly toured us around her newly renovated and expanded space plus the Junior and Infant Libraries. In addition, Suzanne showed us the Staff Library (!) which is a lovely collaborative faculty room with tons of learning resources, a kitchen area, and windows. So important!

Tanglin is celebrating its 90th birthfay, and the library hose 90 books (one from each year of its existance) to highlight. Something I noticed and loved was that EVERY library we visited had a reading theater space which doubles as classroom performance space. Hard to achieve in a city school without oodles of available spaces spread about sprawling campuses but soooo valuable…

Check out Tanglin’s Infant Library’s story sacks! And the screen saver that the 6th grader sees when she logs onto the computer reminding her of the school’s Responsible Use Policy! Also, notice the beautiful new space offering flexible collaborative learning opportunities — it is furnished with Steelcase furniture, writeable surfaces, and maker materials — all in an area which was formally an open patio!