Tuesday, September 20, 2016

#GoOpen Summit Coming to Vista

Calling All Visionary...
District and School Leaders, Teachers, School Media Technicians, and Librarians!

Join us to learn more about getting started with Open Education Resources (OER) and learning more about becoming a #GoOpen district.
The U.S. Department of Education’s #GoOpen campaign encourages states, school districts and educators to use openly licensed educational materials to transform teaching and learning.

Vista Unified School District cordially invites you to join them on Friday, October 7 for a #GoOpen Regional Summit. The #GoOpen Regional Summit will provide an opportunity for educators, district and state leaders, technology tool providers, and nonprofits to explore opportunities to expand the use of high quality, openly licensed educational resources in classrooms across the country. 


The #GoOpen Regional Summits are intended for new districts who have recently committed to becoming a #GoOpen Launch district or are curious about making a scalable transition to openly licensed educational resources. The day is also designed for #GoOpen Ambassador districts who have done some work on making this transition and can offer to facilitate one or more of the workshops throughout the day. All districts are encouraged to send a team of three to five people that are directly working with their #GoOpen work. Our summit will have strands designed
 for district curriculum specialists, instructional coaches, school librarians, adult learners and classroom teachers.

Summit Date and Time:
Friday, October 7, 2016 8:00 - 3:30
Summit Location:
Vista Civic Center (200 Civic Center Drive, Vista, CA 92084
Summit Cost:
Free conference, travel costs are on your own
Summit Hashtag:
#GoOpen
Information and Registration:

Thursday, September 15, 2016

#EdCamp619

Guest blog post by Amy Illingworth, Ed.D., Director, Professional Growth, Leadership Development and Systems Innovation, Sweetwater Union High School District

Edcamp619 took place at Sweetwater High School on Saturday, August 27.  Over 75 educators from within and outside of Sweetwater Union High School District attended this Edventure.  An Edcamp is entirely participant-driven, which means that the topics discussed in each session were determined that morning, based on feedback from the participants.  Dr. Dan Winters, Director of Research and Evaluation for Sweetwater Union High School District, provided a humorous and poignant opening keynote about using empathy in our work with students.  As participants entered Edcamp619, they had time to write topics that they were interested in learning about and/or discussing on post-it notes. Those post it notes were then grouped together into similar ideas to create our session schedule. During each sessions, participants formed a circle and began to talk- they shared questions, ideas, and great discussions around topics of interest to them.

One of our most powerful sessions was a student panel. Kelly Leon, one of our History/Social Science Teachers on Special Assignment, facilitated a discussion with 7 Sweetwater HS students. The students shared what they liked about school, how they preferred to learn, and what helped them connect to teachers and content. These students were articulate and honest in their feedback to educators, and it was amazing to hear their words.  

We had generous sponsors who provided some amazing swag for our raffle prizes, including Virtual Reality Glasses, Dave Burgess Consulting books, and more!  You can see lots of tweets from the event by visiting the hashtag #Edcamp619.  We plan to make this an annual event in Sweetwater and we look forward to collaborating with even more San Diego County educators next year! The tentative date for the next Edcamp619 is Saturday, August 26, 2017. Save the date!

The Edcamp619 planning committee was comprised of the following Sweetwater Union High School District staff members:

  • Dr. Amy Illingworth
  • Ms. Marielle Venturino
  • Dr. Ricardo Cooke
  • Mr. David Cobian
  • Mr. Roberto Bonilla
  • Ms. Kelly Leon
  • Mr. John Patel
  • Ms. Georgina Meza
  • Ms. Easter Finley

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

EdCamp San Diego

If you've ever been to an EdCamp, you know it's not your typical professional development gathering.  There's energy, conversations, and an event specifically tailored to the attendees there, right in the moment.  EdCamp is an experience.

The experience that is EdCamp San Diego is Saturday, October 1, 2016 at the Escondido Union School District.  In it's fourth year, this EdCamp brings together over 150 attendees from all over Southern California.

To register, click here.  This event sells out so get your FREE tickets now.  Your FREE ticket includes breakfast, coffee, and lunch with your fellow edcampers!

SDCUE is a proud sponsor of EdCampSD and we hope to see you there! 

Can't attend the event but want to follow along?  Follow #edcampsd on Twitter for all the day's excitement!