EdCamps

EdCamps

Two upcoming EdCamps

October 13th - Spencerport will be holding an EdCamp at Cosgrove Middle School from 8:00 AM to 12:00. 

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/edcamp-s-port-tickets-46326137725 

November 3rd - Canandaigua will hold an EdCamp at Canandaigua Middle School from 7:30-12:00

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/edcamp-flx-tickets-50187433966

If you are not familiar with EdCamp it's based on the unconference model; in which it is totally participant-driven; the participants decide what is discussed and what sessions they will attend.  EdCamps are free and open to any educators.  While many of them are rather tech-heavy, they do not have to be; the topics can be anything education related (reading, math, sports, social-emotional...). While EdCamps are free they usually ask that participants pre-register on Eventbrite and sign in when they get there.  After signing in there is usually an opportunity to enjoy a light breakfast, network with people and create your name tag.  

EdCamps are about making connections 

At EdCamps you'll meet new people and expand your Personal Learning Network (PLN), they usually have a table in which you can personalize your name tag.  In addition to your name, most people include their twitter handle, how many years they have been teaching and how many EdCamps they have attended.  

The next part of an EdCamp is perhaps the most important.  This is where the topics are created.  Participants are asked to write on sticky notes something they would like to learn about or something they would be willing to facilitate a discussion about.  As people write these topics on sticky notes they are grouped together on whiteboards.  Once all the topics are on the whiteboard participants can decide sessions they would like to attend.  The cool thing about EdCamps is they are about learning and not about people's egos.  So if you go to a session and find it is not what you thought or if even halfway through the discussion changes; you are free to get up and go to another session.  Some sessions people will have some type of presentation and some sessions are largely a discussion.  

The last EdCamp I went to I facilitated a discussion about how I use Google Classroom.  Within my session, there was a wide range of people from other districts.  One person was a Principal hoping to be able to use Google Classroom with her staff, there was a PE teacher and some Elementary and High School Teachers.  Some of them had used Google Classroom and some had not.  As a facilitator of the discussion, I learned just as much from the conversation as the people in my group learned from me.  In another session, I attended as a participant, I learned how Spencerport created a self-paced digital citizenship course for its middle school students.  The materials are differentiated and students earn badges as they progress.

If you are interested in attending an EdCamp 

I encourage you to install the Eventbrite app and search for EdCamps near you.  Or consider following me (@iliketech), Mike Szczepanik (@MikeSzczepanik) or #CoffeeEDURoc on twitter as we often tweet about upcoming Edcamps as we discover them; and if you're not yet on Twitter I highly encourage you to get a Twitter account and start following some people.  It will turn out to be one of the best forms of PD you'll ever have (along with EdCamps). I think my CoffeeEDU and Edcamp friend Katie McFarland sums it up best in her blog, Live Love Learn K12 as she says "While I don’t work directly with all of my PLN, we stay connected through things like EdCamp and Coffee EDU.  Both of which are done outside the “normal” work day.  When I meet with these colleagues I am rejuvenated!"