Port Washington to Washington, DC and New Castle to Greencastle

What a whirlwind week it’s been for the EMC² Learning team! And just because we spend so much time talking about playful pedagogy doesn’t mean we don’t put in some pretty serious work helping all of this stuff come to life behind the scenes. As lifelong learners, we make a regular point of attending conferences, workshops, and school-based trainings to continue learning new and innovative ways to improve our teaching practice as we share our love for this student-centered style of instruction with educators all across the United States (and beyond). We believe that blending time-tested teaching strategies with all sorts of creative ways to bring playful pedagogy to life in our classrooms takes a real willingness to roll up our sleeves to get the job done right! And around these parts, we simply refuse to rely on low-level multiple choice games.

(Shots fired, right?)

Let’s face facts: most of the “gamified” edtech sites simply weren’t built by actual, working classroom teachers. And though they do a remarkable job of catching students’ attention with their fast-paced, video game-like design — the overwhelming majority of these solutions usually amount to little more than a rapid-fire battery of bar trivia-style multiple choice questions cleverly hidden beneath a bunch of brightly colored bells and whistles. But while they look like fun, we know that’s not what deep learning looks like. In short: we think students deserve a whole lot more than mindless button mashing, and that’s why EMC² Learning is engineered from the ground up with serious student engagement squarely at the center of everything we do.

We listen. We learn. And we create new ways to play.

Great teaching is, was, and forever will be made possible by forging authentic relationships between teacher and student. It begins by listening to the needs of the people that we serve, and then designing meaningful experiences that serve their interests and their curiosities. Perhaps the greatest secret a teacher can ever hope to master is simply listening to those we serve with the sincere attempt to understand. Because the simple truth of the matter is that our students will never understand what we’re trying to teach them unless they themselves feel understood. 

Over the past seven days’ time, we have had the incredible privilege of traveling across four states and more than a half a dozen events to take part in a wide array of teaching and learning experiences with fellow members of the EMC² Learning community of Engagement Engineers, Tinker Teachers, and Creative Corps. While the miles were many and the hours were long — it’s often said that when you love what you do, you never really work a day in your life. And if that’s the case, it has sincerely been our honor to play — err, “work” — with each and every one of you this week!

Here’s a quick recap of where we’ve been over these past seven days and just a small handful of the new (and old!) friends we’ve met and made along the way.