510Bridge Collective

SF-Oakland Bay Bridge old and new spans side by side

On December 2nd I will be heading to Half Moon Bay for the Big Ideas Fest http://www.bigideasfest.org/fests

I'm heading to Big Ideas with 510BridgeCollective, a group of arts educators from the Alameda County Office of Education. We'll be at the conference to address the following Understanding Goals:

1. How can we collectively influence, expand and bridge our programming to increase our connections within and beyond Alameda County?

2. How can we individually think big and think beyond our current understanding of teaching and learning?

3. What can we learn about collective impact from this experience and what can we bring back to our communities?

4. How can we more effectively use social media in our work?

The 510BridgeCollective and The Big Ideas Fest offer opportunities for me to further investigate the meaning of collaboration and community engagement.  So much of what I do is collaboration. As a teaching artist there is no other way to function. I'm in constant collaboration with my students, classroom teachers, with fellow artists and educators. But is it "community engagement"?.

While I'm at the conference I will continue to ask my specific question around education and collaboration:

"If we're to have integrated, inquiry based education, how do we move educators (teachers, administrators and policy makers)  from a mindset of isolation and competition to one of collaboration?" 

Three artifacts coming soon...