Sunday, November 10, 2013

EdCamp B'More 2013

Emergency lights on my car dashboard didn't keep me away. (Luckily it was just tire pressure issues, which is easily remedied at a nearby gas station.)

Construction and the inability to find the building initially didn't keep me away. (Luckily, I could park, walk, and find good on-foot navigators on campus.)

Keep me away from what, you ask?

Why, EdCamp Baltimore!

I've proven to be a bit of an EdCamp addict here in the past.  It is an amazing kind of professional development that grows right around the participants who then turn leaders and fellow collaborators. 

It's been said if you walk away from a traditional workshop with one good idea to implement the next day, you are ahead of the game. EdCamps typically come with a higher rate of success and a greater degree of next-day implementation. And at a better fee:  free!

I squeaked into camp after my car and traffic troubles just in time for the first session--an intro to Twitter. Even being in the Twittersphere for a couple years now, growing and learning from my PLN (that's a "Personal Learning Network" for those who don't know the acronym), I still walked away with some new tidbits. I don't care what your field of expertise is--Twitter is an amazing place to connect from other like-minded individuals in your field.

My other 3 sessions also came with insights galore--from Google, to social media to boost your school's image, to experiential/inquiry based learning.  After yesterday, I can't wait to really spend some time investigating--here's just a few of the new finds:

--Google Apps for Education & the wonderful world of Chrome (wow--an area of wealth that this kid didn't know about, but a lot of other EdCampers sure did!)

--Newsela.com:  A website of news articles where you can adjust the readability online based on lexile levels. What a great way to differentiate--and follow up with a quiz for comprehension!!

--My last session was a combo deal session including the ideas of Makerspace, PBL, STEM [Science, Technology, Enginieering, and Math], STEAM [STEM with arts integration], experiential learning, and outdoor education.  This served as a great way to make a lot of connections between many sides of the similar active-oriented learning activities.  The Google Doc for that was chock-filled with resources!  (See session 4 for that link here.)

Truly, this is just a mere snippet and the tip of my #EdCampBmore experience

To learn more and experience a bit of the back-end of Edcamp Baltimore, be sure to check out the Schedule.  It is complete with links to Google Docs of notes per session.  Definitely worth the click-through!

Another great reference is the Smackdown link...where participants share a quick mention of a website or teaching tool of inspiration.

But perhaps the most important website to visit is the wiki of links to future EdCamps.  Odds are, there's one not far from you, coming up soon!  It's a great and inspirational way to spend a Saturday!



Pictures from:  Logo = http://www.edcampbmore.org/; EdCamp word cloud = http://edcampcolumbus.wordpress.com/ ; EdCamp/Traditional Conference comparison chart = https://edcamp.wikispaces.com/JEdcamp+SFBay

2 comments :

  1. We are so thrilled you had a great day of collaboration and networking! Thanks for joining us!

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    1. I appreciate the work of your whole team, Jennifer! You guys helped set up a wonderful day of so many goodies! True to EdCamp, all the way around! ;-)

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