Have you ever been to an EdCamp? (If yes, go to paragraph 3, if no, go to paragraph 1)
No. (Paragraph 1) What?! Okay let me break it down for you! A bunch of people invested in education: teachers, students, administrators, parents, student-teachers, and trustees all show up to have conversations (challenging ones!) about education, pedagogy, practice, tech, and trends. There are no agreed upon sessions (except "Things that suck") and everyone gets the same number of votes to put towards the sessions. That means that the sessions are also run by the attendees. It means authentic and in depth conversation. It means challenging questions and thinking deeply about your practice. One of my favorite things is having access to so many master teachers, so many educators that care deeply about their practice AND THAT ARE WILLING TO TALK TO ME ABOUT IT! It's like an hour long twitter chat where you aren't constrained by characters. I am going to disclose that I feel like I abuse the system by asking the most probing questions I can and stealing, outright stealing, the best practices I find that come out of the answers. I'm not sure where that puts me for TRB Standard 1: Educators are role models who act ethically and responsibly. Yes! (Paragraph 3) Allright. *fistbump of awesomeness* Don't they rock? I've had some uncomfortable conversations and still walked away a better person. They aren't all about the warm and fuzzies, and often by about 2:30 I have a -raging- headache. I've learned so much about what is -really- important when teaching, when acting as a colleague, when acting as a role model, when acting as a mentor, and when acting as a mentee. One of my favorite sessions is "What Do Student Teachers Really Need To Know?" I find that hiring administrators -love- to come sit in on those conversations. In January at EdCamp Delta I had three hiring administrators come, sit, and converse with me about the state of teacher ed in BC and the things we need to focus on to be excellent teachers in their districts. On Saturday I sat with many many other Student Teachers (from nearly every University in the province) and we talked practicums, alternative ed, getting hired, and passion for the job. We were joined by mentor teachers (including one I have the privilege of joining in his classroom), university faculty, and hiring administrators! The conversation was vastly different than the first one I attended, but was as beneficial and challenging. To wrap this up a bunch of my Twitter PLN were having a Poetry Slam to celebrate. Haiku's have been done, acrostics too. I'm gonna go with the old standby- a limerick. There once was an EdCamp in Langley, The learning was deep and quite tangly. I went with some friends, and discussed some trends, The experience was very change-ly. (You try and rhyme Langley!)
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AuthorI respond to Sarah, Mrs. Moore, Mrs. Smoore, Miss Sarah, (and sometimes Mom!). I have been an DL (homeschool!) teacher for 2 years and am now a proud member of the SD35 team! Archives
September 2018
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