Submitted by Katie White
As I used to be getting ready to attend the Canadian Evaluation for Studying Convention and Symposium in Dartmouth this yr, I used to be requested greater than as soon as by colleagues why I work so laborious to attend. I definitely have sufficient “stuff” to fill my days and Nova Scotia is terribly far-off from Saskatchewan, so why the dedication to make it occur? I began to consider what makes CAfLN completely different; what makes it price it…and I recalled once I discovered the significance of this community for the primary time.
I had been a member for a full yr earlier than I attended my first convention. I knew in regards to the big useful resource of the CAfLN web site and I used to be taken with their mission, devoted to the function of evaluation for studying in training. Nevertheless, it was not till I attended the 2017 convention and symposium in Saskatoon that I actually felt the advantage of the community. I emphasize the phrase “felt” as a result of that’s what makes this membership so completely different.
Throughout this primary convention and symposium expertise, I got here to really feel how highly effective this community is in feeding my very own want to attach, to narrate, and to really feel part of one thing greater than myself, my faculty division, and even my province. I had a visceral sense of belonging that I’ve come to comprehend is so essential when exploring complexities like evaluation and academic change. After that preliminary expertise, I knew I had a community with whom I may safely discuss, surprise, and discover. I may very well be susceptible and empowered on the identical time.
This membership is a few Canadian context, and like our nation itself, the variety of this context is strictly what makes it so wealthy. I met educators from throughout Canada and we shared our personal distinctive views and worldviews, whereas trying to find commonalities and relationships that nurture a sense of shared expertise. I bear in mind leaving that preliminary gathering completely positive in my coronary heart that CAfLN was one thing I needed to be part of. I knew that my time spent with these individuals would enrich my work in training. I developed friendships in very quick order and these friendships continued all year long that adopted my first convention and symposium. I stayed linked by means of social media and these conversations helped me to know layers of evaluation for studying in numerous Canadian contexts. By networking with others, I used to be in a position to see how AfL “lives” in British Columbia, the way it manifests in Ontario, and the way it has developed in my very own province of Saskatchewan.
Considering again now on the second convention and symposium in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, I proceed to really feel the highly effective pull of this community. In Dartmouth, friendships {and professional} relationships deepened, harder questions have been requested, and completely different views have been shared. I discovered extra in regards to the jap Canadian perspective, which added depth to my private seek for methods to make studying more and more highly effective for each instructor and college students.
The facility of a CAfLN membership may be present in each what it’s and what it isn’t. This community just isn’t about enterprise. It’s not about “displays” or “knowers.” It’s not in regards to the “proper solutions” and the “sure options.” Somewhat, it’s about in search of, about discovering, about connecting. No matter perspective and data a participant brings to the dialog is essential. Each particular person has a voice and each voice issues. The convention and symposium are secure locations to ask questions and search personally significant solutions.
Canadian Evaluation for Studying Community just isn’t your common community. It’s dedicated to a robust goal and the way it achieves this goal is exclusive. The convention and symposium are dedicated to bringing many voices into the educational house, together with these of scholars. Members are invited to share their tales and concepts and harvest them for which means. The keynotes are revolutionary and the periods are extremely partaking. Whenever you go away the convention and symposium, you are feeling a part of one thing highly effective; one thing that basically issues. So, I’ve begun my preparations for the following occasion in Delta in 2019. I do know will probably be greater than price it and hope you’ll be a part of me there.