Attending your first Edcamp can be a nerve-wracking experience.  How will this work? Won’t it be confusing? Will there be chaos? These were all questions I asked before attending my first Baltimore Edcamp in 2012. I think it is pretty natural to wonder how something unstructured and unplanned could ever work.  Luckily for me, the Baltimore event was so high energy and exciting that my worries faded when I realized that everyone there had the common goal of engaging in great conversations and making new connections.


The main thing to remember is that you have an opportunity to spend the day with people that want to learn and expand their own practice. The connections you make will be the most important thing you take away from this experience. Push yourself to engage in discussion, meet new people, and share your own unique experience.


Here is an outline of some of the things you can expect to experience at your first Edcamp:

Sessions

When you arrive, you will see a blank schedule. Have a topic that interests you? An idea you have wanted to know more about? A passion you want to explore with others? Great, add it to the board. These topics will be assigned a room and time. Then, you are on your own! Go where your passions and curiosity leads you!

Sessions are conducted as open discussions, with no presenter or leader, but everyone having an equal voice. It is a place to talk about ideas, ask questions, stretch your thinking, and share experiences. You can jump in when you feel comfortable or just listen. Your comfort level and personality should guide your involvement. Also, don’t worry about missing the conversation in other sessions. Each will have a Google document of shared notes linked to the Edcamp Baltimore website.

My advice here, try to connect with one person in each session. Follow them on Twitter, sit next to them at lunch, or simply thank them for their ideas. After all, the personal connections will last longer than any tip or trick you ever gain.

Law of Two Feet

This is by far my favorite idea behind the sessions at Edcamp.  Not feeling the discussion? Getting distracted or bored? Maybe the session is just not what you expected.  No problem, use your feet and keep it moving to a new session. No hurt feelings. No one is insulted. You guide your learning. 

Smackdown

The Smackdown session is one of the most exciting parts of attending Edcamp. This is a time when everyone attending the events gets an opportunity to share tips, tricks, and resources. It is fast-paced and fun to hear people running through their favorite resources. You are guaranteed to come away with a few new tools to try! The best part, you now also know someone else that knows how to use these tools, so you actually receive two resources. Here is an example of the resources from the Edcamp Baltimore 2012 Smackdown .

Edcamp Glossary

Don’t become overwhelmed with all the new terms and lingo you hear at your first Edcamp. Check out this space for some helpful terms and definitions.

Twitter: Online social networking site in which people can engage with one another by posting “tweets” that consist of 140 characters or less.

Backchannel: Real-time, live conversation that takes place alongside and simultaneous to a live discussion. This can involve posting about the live events and discussion on social media sites such as Twitter and Today’s Meet. 

Hashtag: Words or phrases that are prefixed with the symbol #. Hashtags are meant to help group and track common ideas or topics as part of ad hoc discussions. Follow and post using #edcampbmore the day of the event.

Maker Education: Focuses on creative building projects with an emphasis on play, investigation, and exploration. The process of making often involves the building, deconstruction, or repurposing of mechanical or electronic systems.

Hands-On Learning: A model where students are actively engaged in the manipulation and exploration of physical objects. It expands beyond the traditional formats of reading, writing, and discussion and creates an access point for the development of other skills and interests. 

Project Based Learning (PBL): The use of complex projects to facilitate the use and development of the higher processing abilities of students. It is characterized by requiring the use of student-driven investigation, design, and critical thinking. The teacher acts as a facilitator and guide, while the learning process is driven by student inquiry.

Design Process Learning: An inquiry driven method of instructional facilitation that enables students to develop the problem solving skills of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. The process is defined in six steps: Identify the design or problem principles: Identify methods or means of approach; Select a method or means of approach; Create a model; Test and evaluate model based on the design or problem principles; Refine method or model as needed.

Experiential Learning: Style focused on the conscious process of reflection on doing. It is the process of gaining knowledge from active engagement and evaluation of first hand experiences.


(Check out LEARNING NOW: Defined and LEARNING NOW: Applied for a more comprehensive overview of some of these terms)

Thanks to organizer, Jenna Shaw (@teachbaltshaw) for creating this post!

Leading up to our November 9 event, Edcamp Baltimore organizers hope to share the voices of different edcamp stakeholders through our blog. These voices might be reflections on edcamp experiences or diving into discussion topics that might transfer into a session on the day of the event.


Special thanks to Christopher Wooleyhand, Ph.D (@principal64) who volunteered his blog post about teacher-led schools, also published on his blog. The original post can be found here. Interested in contributing? Contact us.


Are Teacher-Led Schools Viable?

The October edition of Educational Leadership focused on leveraging teacher leadership.  This is a topic near and dear to my heart.  I am convinced that growing teacher leadership is the key to raising the level of instruction in our nation’s schools.  I also believe that principals are responsible for making this happen.  I was, therefore, intrigued with Lori Nazareno’s article titled, Portrait of a Teacher-Led School.

In her article, Nazareno describes the teacher-led school she opened in Denver, Colorado.  According to her, “(they) have consciously created an environment that requires all teachers to lead in a climate in which everyone owns student learning.”  The school reports that is uses teacher teams as well as peer observation and evaluation to guide instruction.

The article gives a balanced view of the innovation that can be fostered in a teacher-led school, while also outlining the challenges of leadership in a “flat” organization.  Nazareno isn’t suggesting that all schools can make do without a principal.

New ideas in teaching and school leadership are needed and should be welcomed.  If a teacher-led school model fosters increased academic achievement, then we should embrace it.  Nazareno, however, doesn’t offer any data to tout her school’s success.  It would be interesting to see a longitudinal study conducted on the efficacy of teacher-led schools.  Of course, there is more to a school’s success than student performance data.

After reading the article, I still feel strongly that teacher leadership should be able to thrive regardless of whether a school is led by a principal or by a lead-teacher.  In fact, a strong, collaborative principal can foster a level of leadership that empowers teachers to make the same instructional decisions that are made in teacher-led schools.  Principals are also skilled at protecting teachers from administrative tasks that can sidetrack their instructional focus.

Frankly, the concept of teacher-led schools also makes me a little sad.  Has the state of education reached such a low point that principals are now seen as obstacles to the learning process?  I also find it a little ironic that when you visit the website for Nazareno’s school*, the Mathematics and Science Leadership Academy, they list a principal and a lead teacher as staff members.  This would suggest that maybe the packaging was changed, but the contents are the same.

Perhaps the biggest contribution of the teacher-led movement is that the term lead-learner has become popular.  If a principal sees himself or herself as the lead learner, then it won’t matter what other titles he or she may hold.  Teacher-led schools are unlikely to replace principal-led schools, but maybe their ideology can influence school leaders to be more collaborative and team-centered.

* As noted in the article, Nazareno left the Mathematics and Science Leadership Academy for a position as a teacher-in-residence with the Center for Teaching Quality in Conifer, Colorado.

ASCD members and EL subscribers can access Nazareno’s article at the following link:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/oct13/vol71/num02/Portrait_of_a_Teacher-Led_School.aspx

Leading up to our November 9 event, Edcamp Baltimore organizers hope to share the voices of different edcamp stakeholders through our blog. These voices might be reflections on edcamp experiences or diving into discussion topics that might transfer into a session on the day of the event.


Special thanks to Heidi Hutchison (@heidihutchison) who volunteered her blog post about student blogging, also published on her blog. The original post can be found here. Interested in contributing? Contact us.

Why Blogging Needs to Be in My Curriculum and Why My Students Need It!



The day before yesterday, I brought my students to our computer lab to blog again. It was so wonderful to see them so excited about writing!

It has taken me a few years to develop a system of how to teach students to blog. It has also taken me a few years to effectively incorporate writing skills I usually taught in other ways into a blogging curriculum. And, I hesitate to even use the word curriculum because I think it is only the beginnings of one. I have also not done this alone. With the help of fabulous technology teachers, Andy Hanes and Jennifer Robinson, we really are starting to make it come together for kids, and ourselves!

We began the year with showing students what blogs were: what was the difference between an article and a blog? I then asked my students to make a list of what they would like to read about. My colleagues and I responded by making a Mentor Mob list of blogs that fit their criteria and were safe for them to read. After giving students about two 1/2 hour periods in the computer lab to simply browse and read, we began to have discussions about questions they had regarding the blogs. Some questions were: How can we tell if the information is coming from a reputable source? What do we do when information is really mixed in with opinion? Can we use blogs as sources for research? Why do some blogs have pop up ads or ads on the screen and some don't? What formats do we prefer...the writing on the right side of the page? The left? Do we like pictures on the page at the top? Is the page too busy for us or too boring? They commented on being annoyed when someone didn't capitalize the word "I" or put too many exclamation points. They loved it when someone was able to tell a clear story and put lots of details.

We are taking part in the Student Blogging Challenge on Edublogs, but using KidBlog to blog. As a teacher, the ability to check my students' writing before they post, as well as approve comments before they are posted, is extremely important to me. For the challenge, students needed to first write an introduction of themselves so we checked out a couple of examples and talked about which one we liked best and why.

This brings me to our class we had two days ago. Students were so excited to write and read other classmates' blogs! During class, I was able to individually conference with students who had finished and submitted their blogs for review. It was differentiation at its' best! I could help students with their specific writing difficulties and build on their strengths. Some students needed to understand how to appropriately use colons, some needed help with organization and learned how to cut sentences out and move them to a different place so that it made more sense, some students just wanted reassurance and praise. Yes, there was time to individually praise students! We are learning about compound subjects and predicates and next time we blog, I can have them copy and paste a favorite sentence into a Word Doc, or better yet, something collaborative, like Pirate Pad. We can then highlight subjects and predicates using their own writing. We can also take that opportunity to share why they love that particular sentence they wrote the best!

When my colleague, Jennifer, who was working with me at the time, asked students why they loved blogging, their responses said it all:

•     Because it's fun!
  
•     Because real people are going to see it that aren't us!
•     Because when I make mistakes, it makes more sense when I have to fix it!
•     Because we get to learn more about our classmates and people we don't know!
•     Because it isn't made up, it's real.
  

 My students need this kind of writing. They need it because it means something to them, it motivates them to learn and be better readers and writers. They need it because it builds on their interests, taps into their creativity, invites them to be collaborative, and begs them to think critically. What more could you want as a teacher?

Leading up to our November 9 event, Edcamp Baltimore organizers hope to share the voices of different edcamp stakeholders through our blog. These voices might be reflections on edcamp experiences or diving into discussion topics that might transfer into a session on the day of the event.


Special thanks to Jen Filosa (@jafilosa) who volunteered her blog post from her experience at Edcamp Baltimore last year for the first post. The original blog can be found here. Interested in contributing? Contact us.



Edcamp Bmore - The Baltimore Edcamp Experience

     Yesterday I attended Edcamp Baltimore--Edcamp Bmore--Be More! Since it was my first true Edcamp experience, I was very excited to watch it all unfold (I went to Edscape last month in New Milford, NJ, which was amazing and had preplanned sessions, but I had never attended an Edcamp "unconference" before).  I met some incredible local educators that I hope to stay connected to, and I also met some of my PLN face-to-face, which is always very exciting.  The organizers of Edcamp Baltimore were nervous about whether the schedule would fill up with volunteers, but after just a few minutes, you could tell that would not be a problem - here's what their schedule ended up looking like after the planning phase.  I was excited and nervous to "lead" a session, but the unconference model helps alleviate that pressure because the session ends up being a conversation among educators asking questions, offering suggestions, and problem solving.  The energy at edcamps is truly contagious and invigorating, and it should be a model for our professional development days in school.  

     I took a lot away from the experience--I learned what it means to be a teacherprenuer (thanks to Andrew Coy, @andrewcoy, for the great discussion and opening my eyes to this concept).  It was fascinating to hear about events where teachers and techies meet up on a weekend and try to problem-solve and create apps or tools for the classroom.  I'm interested in trying out an EdTech meet-up soon in the Maryland region--maybe I'll create something really cool!  My big drive lately has been to create my own open-source AP US History text for my classroom, especially with the new College Board curriculum design rolling out next year.  Along with the teacherprenuer discussion, I was also able to participate in a discussion about how to take the Edcamp/unconference experience back to my school and help implement it in our school.  We discussed the possibility of resistance from staff and colleagues and some ways to counter that resistance, and we also heard successful implementation models from Reed Gillespie,@rggillespie, and Phil Griffins, @philgriffins, both administrators in schools in Virginia.  It was nice to see the example described from the top down, which I think can make the transistion easier.  Hopefully, I can help convince some of my colleagues to see the benefit of an unconference model--it is more valuable, participants have a buy-in because some of them are leading disucssions, and the energy that comes from the collaboration can help us refocus potential negative energy and morale issues in order to re-invigorate our teaching.  I think Mr. Gillespie said it best in his reflection on his edcamp-modeled professional development day--"Teachers were actively engaged, asking questions and taking notes as opposed to the traditional PD where teachers are grading papers, reading books, playing on their cell phones, crocheting, etc."

    Thanks so much to the Edcamp Baltimore Co-Founders Shannon Montague, @montysays, and Chris Shriver, @ccshriver - it was a wonderful experience, and I can't wait to participate again next year!
     
     Here's the wiki for Edcamps in the US--check it out!

It is hard to believe that almost six months ago, Baltimore hosted its first ever Edcamp Baltimore. November 10, 2012 brought over 75 educators together to one space to engage in professional development that was almost unheard of to educators before 2010. As organizers, we feel so fortunate to have spent the day learning with you.