Q: What was the format of the Share Fair?
A: The Share Fair was a chance for our Shelby County Public School educators to share edtech tools or Competency-Based Education (CBE) successes, strategies or structures that have positively impacted learning. Attendees would first preview their session choices from a Google Doc embedded on our Event page. Next, attendees would go to their first station (classroom) of their own individual choosing, located in the same hallway. Each session was twenty minutes long. For the first half of the session, the presenter discussed their edtech tool or CBE story; for the second half, the presenter led and engaged in a Q & A with their audience. At the twenty minute mark, attendees were asked to "rotate" and move to the next station/classroom. At station #2, the process repeated and the rotations continued. For 2022, there was time for five session rotations before the Share Fair ended, yet there were multiple presentations -- so picking which ones to see (and in what order to see them) was up to each attendee.
Note that all presenters kept repeating their presentations throughout the Share Fair, so you had multiple opportunities to catch one of their sessions.
It's a bit like musical chairs: the presenters stay put and do the same session five times in a row, but the attendees move from one station/room to the next.
Q: Why call it a "Share Fair" and not a "Showcase" or something else?
A: Good question! First of all, we need to give credit to a former district instructional coach Amanda Gift, who knew of "Share Fairs" when she worked at a past district and suggested the name. (Their conference organization was different than ours, but we liked the phrase!) Second, as we detailed above, this is NOT a typical "sit and git" PD. For about half of the session time, the presenter actually leads his/her audience in a discussion about the tool or CBE focus, and hopefully will learn as much as he/she will teach. So the educational "sharing" is truly a two way street.
Q: When did the Share Fairs begin? What was the purpose of creating Share Fairs? Have they changed over the years?
A: Our first Share Fair was on March 26, 2015, created by SCPS's Adam Watson. It came from needing to meet two goals of our 2014-2018 district strategic leadership plan (SLP): to increase the integrated instructional technology capacity of our Shelby educators as we began our 1:1 initiative, and to ensure 75% of our PD would be led by our own staff. From 2015 to 2022, it was an annual event (with the exception of 2021 because of COVID-19). For the first three years, the Share Fair focused on education technology and therefore was referred to as the "Edtech Share Fair." The length and number of sessions has changed over the years based on experience and attendee feedback. Beginning in 2018, we also expanded the sessions to include competency-based education topics, which resulted in dropping "Edtech" from the name starting in 2019.
Press on the first Share Fair:
Adam Watson's "Edtech Elixirs" blog entry: "Edtech Share Fair 2015" (3/27/15)
"Teachers teaching teachers: SCPS hosts first Edtech Share Fair" by Ashley Sutter (The Sentinel News, 3/27/15)
For more information on past Share Fairs, see the Archive page.
Q: Were educators outside of Shelby County allowed to attend? Could community members (non-educators) come?
A: Yes! We have been fortunate to have many outside educators attend our Share Fairs over the years, and we had an open door policy to any community members who wanted to visit as well.
Q: What was the cost of a ticket?
A: The Share Fair was always FREE to attend.
Q: Will there be another Share Fair?
A: Share Fair has been a wonderful journey of EIGHT YEARS, but all good things must come to an end. :) Our district has grown and changed since 2015, and with it our professional development needs. Therefore, the 2022 Share Fair will be the last one for the foreseeable future.
That said, we hope that its unique format may inspire other districts to hold "Share Fairs" of their own!
Q: Who can I contact with questions about the Share Fair?
A: Please contact Adam Watson (Digital Learning Coordinator of Shelby County Public Schools).