Monday, USD 313 Buhler will host EdCamp313. I was fortunate to be a part of the planning for the event, and I am truly excited for what is to come. I attended my first EdCamps last summer. I was a part of nEdCamp, in Hesston, Kansas which takes the EdCamp idea and focuses it on literacy and reading, and enjoyed EdCampICT in Andover, Kansas. (By the way, nErdCamp just opened registration for June 2017. If you live in Kansas or will be in the Midwest, you really need to check it out. It has had a massive effect on my classroom and mindset).
EdCamp is a national program that tabs itself as an "unconference". In essence, instead of teachers sitting in a room listening to a presenter speak for 45 minutes to an hour and then, maybe, taking questions for a few minutes, educators identify topics that they want to learn more about or collaborate on, and then do just that. The educators lead the discussion, and teachers share their expertise or questions. It is organic, it is collaborative, and it is rewarding.
We had a great group of educators who helped plan for the event. The response from the district and the area has been amazing. Despite this, as we near EdCamp313, many teachers are anxious. The concept is a little different from traditional Professional Development, so that is understandable. However, as the concept becomes clearer, the ideas are beginning to flow. Some are ideas that relate to some of those "forgotten groups" on PD days. In the traditional model, those ideas that popped to mind on Saturday before the Monday PD might have been met with the following response: "That is a great idea. I wish we had thought of that before we set the schedule. We will make a note of it for next time." Yesterday, as those new ideas started to flow, the response was "Sweet! I can see that being a great session!" Put yourself in your students' shoes. If a student came up in class and said he had a unique view on Poe's use of color in "The Masque of Red Death", and I replied, "Hold on to that thought. I will talk about it with my classes next year. I already have my plans written for this unit," I would lose that student for the day, and probably for the year.
I consider myself a blessed teacher, for many reasons. One blessing I have is that I not only work with students in the upstairs south hallway at BHS, but also in the weightroom, on the track, and on the football field. I have amazing colleagues in every one of my classrooms. Coaches, honestly, have been doing EdCamps for a long time. When coaches go to coaching clinics, they will listen to terrific speakers, and usually take notes and ask questions. However, the real growth occurs in the hotel lobbies, at the restaurant, and in the rooms after the sessions officially end. Napkins, table clothes, and mirrors become learning tools and dry erase markers scribble secrets and innovations that change the outcomes of games the next season or drive workout in the off-season. Coaches will listen to a "big-timer" speak, and two hours later, that same coach is sitting in a hotel room listening to his audience members point out flaws or tweak his ideas to be even better. A group of six or seven coaches will meet up by accident in the lobby and "skip the next session" because they are hashing out how to adjust to no-back set motion because one of them beat a common opponent the year before.
EdCamp basically says, quit feeling as if you are "skipping a session"; those meaningful discussions actually should be the sessions themselves. Don't feel bad about it. Do it more often. Think of it as hallway collaboration with your most talented colleagues, but the hallway is much, much larger. Oh, and by the way, while you are at it, get the emails or cell numbers for those guys you sat around the table with, and check out how their teams do next season. Call them, tweet tweet @ them, or email them with congratulations and questions. Keep picking their brains.
Keep growing.
That is what EdCamp313 will be about tomorrow. Growing, building connections, collaborating, and improving.
And that is exciting.
