EdCamp Leon 2015

Today, Leon County hosted its third annual EdCamp, and I'm so glad I was able to attend again this year.  Like my other EdCamp posts, I'm simply going to share what I participated in throughout the day.

Registration lasted an hour, from 9:00-10:00 a.m.  When I arrived, I noticed a few coworkers, but I also recognized the friendly face of a teacher I know in a local public school.  We have sort of a history together (I taught his child and have also worked with his wife).  He soon approached me and asked if I'd like to present with him today about student engagement.  At first, I said, "Don't teachers already know about student engagement?"  To which he responded, "Do they??"  I said, "I think everything I would have to share, most teachers already know."  He reminded me of the Whole Brain Teaching techniques I use, plus my chants/singing/dancing, Mystery Skype, classroom transformations, etc.  He's observed my teaching.  Finally, I decided I would present with him.  I wasn't really prepared, but he assured me it would be more conversation-style than true presentation-style.  Within 15 minutes, we were standing in front of our audience.

There were four sessions of presentations throughout the day, and we were in the first group:

Just ignore the misspelled words.  I didn't type the schedule, but I assure you, we were sharing about "Student Engagement," not "Student Engagment."

I was kind of surprised when we went to our room--every seat was full and we needed to pull in more chairs.  Apparently, more teachers than I thought are interested in student engagement!  Bryan mainly led the conversation, but I jumped in and shared when I felt like it.  There was a great flow to the presentation, I thought, and many of the teachers shared their own ideas and strategies.  We discussed Bill McBride's Six C's of Engagement, various attention getters, Whole Brain Teaching, Ron Clark Academy techniques, and a variety of resources.  We recommended all of Ron Clark's books, Inside the Trenches by Adam Dovico, and Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire by Rafe Esquith. 

The second session I chose to go to was called Roadtrip Nation.  It was a good resource, but really geared more toward upper middle and high school students.  Roadtrip Nation is about career exploration, and we looked at several links from www.roadtripnation.org.

After the second session, it was lunch time.  Salad, pizza, and drinks were provided, and we were all able to talk and share with each other at lunch.  I'm so glad we had this networking/sharing time because we didn't last year.  Instead, we had to sit through a webcast that wasn't relevant, in my opinion.  Today's sharing time was much more valuable. 

My third session was titled, "Connecting with Florida Educators."  I learned about Google Hangouts, EdCamp Global, and #FLedChat on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. on Twitter.  #cantwait.  This session revolved around participating in a Hangout with EdCamp Volusia, the cofounder of EdCamp Tampa Bay, and Jerry Blumengarten. 

I was a little star-struck when I saw Jerry on screen.  I know him as @cybraryman1 on Twitter, so it was fun to get to chat with him for a bit.  His online resources have been so beneficial to me, and I encourage you to check out his pages: www.cybraryman.com.  He has a plethora of information. 

Finally, my last session was "iPad Everything" and we were able to share apps/resources and discuss how we use iPads in our classrooms.

We ended the day with prizes, and I actually won an Interactive Whiteboard System:

There were some great prizes offered including a document camera, the IWB Systems, webcams, free registrations to FETC (Florida Educational Technology Conference), Plickers, t-shirts, etc.  I believe everyone walked away with something.

One final cool thing happened that left me in tears (of gratitude).  Once the conference ended, I spoke with a lady who organizes the FETC event.  Unbeknownst to me, she had come to the presentation I shared in earlier that morning.  During our conversation, she referred to my blog and I mentioned that I help with technology workshops at my school.  She said, "You need to come to FETC."  I told her that I've always wanted to go, but I teach at a private school and we just don't have the funds to send our teachers to a huge conference like that.  She invited me to the next conference and gave me a free registration!  Tears immediately started welling up in my eyes.  As she was pulling out her card and writing the information down, I asked, "Are you really doing this for me?!"  I was so excited, overcome with gratitude, and just tried to pick my jaw off the floor!  Without going into detail, this past year has been incredibly difficult for me personally.  I've had to deal with great disappointment, so when this moment happened, I had a hard time processing it--Is something good really happening to me?!  This isn't typical.  What's going on?!

I'm sure for the average person, my excitement may seem overboard and way too dramatic.  However, I love conferences...I love learning...and FETC is something I've wanted to attend for at least three years.  It's one of the nation's largest educational technology conferences.  I am thrilled!  The conference is in January, and I can't wait to share with you what I learn and experience.  It's going to be great!

As you can see, EdCamp Leon was another success, and I had a wonderful time!  

EdCamp Leon 2014

Last Saturday, I attended my second EdCamp here in Leon county.  I was looking forward to it because last year's event was so amazing.  While I had a good time, I have to admit that my experience this year wasn't as great as last year's.  I've been reflecting this week on what was so different.  Were my expectations too high?  Maybe I was overly excited last year because it was my first EdCamp event.  I don't know...

In this post, I'm going to reflect on both EdCamp experiences and compare/contrast EdCamp 2013 and EdCamp 2014. 

First of all, EdCamp 2014 didn't seem as organized or as promoted as EdCamp 2013.  Last year, EdCamp Leon was promoted heavily on Twitter and there was no confusion about the registration/start time.  When I first found out about this year's event (on a flyer at a workshop), the start time was posted as 10 a.m.  When I registered, the start time on my ticket was 9:30 a.m.  Eventually, I saw on Twitter that the start time was 9 a.m.  I was so confused!  I had invited several people and was unsure what time to tell them.  I stuck to the 9:30 a.m. time but wish I had arrived earlier so that I could have met and networked with other teachers.

This was another difference.  Last year, I arrived at 8 a.m. and sessions began at 10 a.m.  This gave me plenty of time to meet new people and talk about what's working in our classrooms.  I even shared how I used technology in my classroom with a new teacher-friend and got her started on Twitter.  I had so much fun connecting with other teachers and getting to know them before the sessions began.  This year, unfortunately, I arrived only 30 minutes before sessions started.  I felt obligated to sit next to the coworkers I had invited, so I didn't really get to chat with new people. 

If I were in charge of EdCamp, this is what I would do to encourage networking:  I would assign each table a number.  When people arrived and registered, I'd give them a sticker (indicating a number) to wear on their shirt.  I would make sure that those who arrived in a group (or those who are from the same school) would get different numbers.  The people would sit at the table that matched their "assigned" number and get to know the teachers around that table.  Maybe after a certain time period we could switch seats, but I would encourage attendees to get out of their comfort zones and have conversations with new people.  That's what EdCamp is all about--getting to know new people and learning from them.  I didn't feel that that was encouraged as much this year. 

Not only was there not enough time to mingle before our sessions, but we were given a presentation during lunch (via webcast) so very few people were conversing; they were all watching the screen!  I wanted to debrief with my co-workers about the morning sessions they had attended and share ideas, but I couldn't speak across the table because of the loud webcast going on.  To me, the webcast wasn't that helpful, so I began talking to a guy next to me who is starting a school next year.  He shared ideas with me, and our conversation was enjoyable and exciting.  It was great to finally connect with someone.  I felt that this year's EdCamp didn't allow time in our schedule for conversations to flow, connections to build, and sharing to occur among attendees.  I felt stifled this year; last year I felt free.

Another thing I missed from last year was a whole-group segment called "Digital Tool Shout-Out."  During this 15 minute session, teachers had a chance to stand up and share, in 20 seconds or so, their favorite website/app/digital tool that they use in their classroom.  I thought that this was helpful, and it also allowed teachers who didn't feel comfortable enough to lead a session to still share what's working in their classrooms.       

Throughout the day, just like last year, I attended four sessions.  These included:
1.  Web 2.0 Resources
2.  That's What He/She Said (a session about backchannel communications)
3.  Things That Suck
4.  20% Project

The sessions that I went to were great, and I learned something new in each one.  Many of the online resources I learned about would work best in a BYOD environment or 1:1 classroom.  At this time, my school doesn't have this, so the sites/apps suggested were more "cool" than practical for me.

My favorite session was "Things That Suck," which was the most participant-driven one.  I loved it!  The leader of the session began by "drawing" an imaginary line down the middle of the room.  He said he was going to give us a topic and we had to move to either side of the line--one side of the room stood for "I think this topic is great and I agree with it" and the other side stood for "I think this sucks and is bad for education/learning."  Topics included homework, grades, grouping of students, standardized testing, teacher evaluations, and teacher tenure.  The tough thing about this session was that there was no middle ground.  We had to take a stand on each issue and be able to defend our position.  After everyone "voted" we all discussed why we stood where we did.  We had some great conversations!  This session was such a hit--people were still talking when time was up.  One of the EdCamp coordinators had to come in the room and say, "Okay, everyone, we have to wrap this up now because the next session is about to start."  No one was ready to leave!  I think this would be interesting to do at a faculty meeting so we could all learn about each other's teaching philosophies. 

Overall, EdCamp Leon 2014 had some great sessions, and I learned some new things.  The down side was that there was very little time to connect with other teachers, and sharing ideas/learning from others is what I enjoy most.  I would definitely attend another EdCamp.  I've learned that every event is unique and I shouldn't expect the exact same thing each time.   

EdCamp Leon

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend an EdCamp event here in Leon County.  It was amazing!  I was able to connect with other passionate educators and I learned so much from them.  I walked away with some great ideas, tools for my classroom, new teacher friends, and...door prizes!  But more about the prizes later.

What is EdCamp, anyway?  An EdCamp event allows teachers to meet together to share ideas and resources of what works in their classrooms.  It's known as an "unconference."  It is free, participant-driven professional development for teachers of all grade levels. 

This is what I experienced at EdCamp Leon:
I arrived at 8:00 a.m. for early registration and received a goodie bag, t-shirt, and schedule of events.  I then mingled with people while enjoying a delicious breakfast brought in by Dunkin' Donuts and a local bagel shop.  Yum! 

There were over 100 teachers in attendance and we were able to share ideas and network with others for an hour and a half before the sessions really began.  There were no "set" sessions when I arrived, so during this "networking" time, people were able to sign up to present.  That's the neat thing about EdCamps.  You never know what will be presented until you get there and people sign up to share---and, anyone can present!  Looking back, I really wish I had presented on Mystery Skype, but I was a little unsure and intimidated.  I really shouldn't have been so fearful.  This group was very friendly and not at all intimidating.  Everyone was willing to listen to others' ideas and they wanted to learn.  What a great atmosphere!

Eventually, the sessions began and we could go to whatever workshop suited our interests.  We were encouraged to "vote with our feet," meaning, if we joined a session and realized it wasn't what we thought it would be, we could walk out and join another session.  No feelings would be hurt.  It was a very fluid process; people came and went and shared and listened and learned.  I loved it! 

Throughout the day I went to four sessions:
1.  Cultivating a Culture of Curiosity by Jason Flom
2.  Organizing Classroom Resources with MentorMob and Symbaloo by Jessica Titze & Jessica Scully
3.  Integrating Technology in the Social Studies Classroom by Gary Davis
4.  Using Nearpod and Other Apps in the Classroom by Jacki Takaki  

At noon, we took a break for lunch.  How awesome is it that they provided lunch for us?!  Soon after lunch, we enjoyed a "Digital Tool Shoutout" in which teachers could come up and, in 20 seconds, share an app, web tool, etc. with the whole group. 

At the end of the day, so many prizes were raffled off, and I won a one-year subscription to flocabulary.com (for my ENTIRE SCHOOL!).  Hey, that's the site I mentioned in the Digital Tool Shoutout!  My students love flocabulary videos and I love all the resources on the site.  There are videos, lesson plans, activities, printables, quizzes, etc.  This was a huge gift to me!  I also won a t-shirt and a gift card for 1 month of Evernote Premium. 

If you'd like to learn more about EdCamp Leon (or see pictures from yesterday's event), CLICK HERE. 

I'm already looking forward to next year's event!