#EdCampOU

What a day!  I'm SO not a morning person, especially on the weekends.  After a week of non-stop "on" I need the weekend to unwind and recharge.

Connecting and chatting and oh yeah, getting gifts!

Not this weekend.

I was one of the, oh, say, around 1700+ educators around the country that were up and at 'em early for an all day workshop, also known as a teacher's playground, also known as EdCamp.  Seems like a huge number for one day, doesn't it?  That's cause there were 17 different EdCamps happening today.  Today.  Might have even been 18, I don't remember.

Bottom line is that once again, educators gave up a Saturday to spend time learning and sharing and connecting and growing in our profession.  Profession.  Like professionals.  But that's another post.

Lunch included?  Thanks for that bonus treat!

Anyway.  Today I was able to connect with new friends and reconnect with old.  I was able to share my expertise in some areas, and I learned a ton from others as they shared their knowledge.  What was really neat is that in the past, all the EdCamp sessions I've facilitated (I'm almost embarrassed to admit that today's EdCamp was my eighth...) were more I talk, people interrupt with welcome questions, and we go back and forth with me sharing, they questioning, and everyone learning.

This time around one of the session I facilitated was a discussion session.  It was so much fun to facilitate!  The topic was homework, and those in the session included a current high school student all the way up to college professors and administrators.  It was a lively, interactive, engaging conversation among professionals, and I felt so refreshed when it was over!

Discussing homework.... great conversation!

I could keep talking for pages, but that could get a bit, well, eh.  Instead, I'm gonna give you the link to the session board.  It was great having it online, as you could quickly check from your devices at any time, without having to go back to the session board.  Even better, though, is that there are linked google docs for each session, so even if you weren't there, you can still check out all the sessions via the notes people have shared!

And of course, a HUGE thank you to all those who organized this awesome event at OU, and to all my fellow facilitators, as none of this would happen without all of the above!

Have fun reading, and if you happen to be at the next EdCamps in the area, introduce yourself!  I love meeting my colleagues across the globe!

Link to Session Board and Notes

EdCampDetroit

I love EdCamps!

If you've never been to an EdCamp, you are missing out.  Yeah, they all happen on Saturdays, but you know what?  There were over 300 educators registered for yesterday's event.  300 educators eager to give up a Saturday to go to PD.

Saturday + PD + 300 educators = come again?!

Oh, did I mention that EdCamps are FREE?  Yep.  That they are.

With all that, how can you not at least give it a try?

The session board for the day.  SO many choices!

The format is generally the same - morning registration and brainstorming the day, followed by a brief kick-off given by one of the volunteers (no keynotes!) before everyone scatters off into one of the session rooms for the first slot.

Sessions.  Created for the attendees, by the attendees.  This is why even though #edcampdetroit was my fourth EdCamp, they're never dull!  The sessions are created by those in attendance who want to share.  Some sessions may be created by those who want to learn about a specific topic.  There are panel discussions, round tables, traditional sessions, and everything in between.  There are no vendors trying to sell the latest craze, no solicitors, just educators sharing what we like, and learning from each other.

Here are my highlights from #edcampdetroit:

• Kahoot is even more fun than I thought it would be!
• I.  Love.  Plickers.  All you need is one handheld device (apple/droid) to make it work!
• There is so much more to Augmented Reality than I realized!
• I need to reconsider using Edmodo - thanks @TeamBond!
• Cardboard Challenge.  SO amazing! (read more about it here)
• I love EdCamps.  I love them more when my BFF goes with me! 
• Twitter is an amazing resource for connecting with educators.  Face to Face meetings with said educators make it even more amazing!
  (Pictures: top - exploring genius hour with Jennifer Bond, bottom- Playing with AR with Drew Minock and Erin Klein)

More to follow about individual tools discovered, but for now, here's some pictures of the day!  Enjoy!

Had a blast taking a Kahoot Quiz!  Super engaging! (and free!)

Paper + Clicker = Plicker

Wrap up with the one and only NerdyTeacher

AR holds limitless possibilities for learning!

Professionally Developed

Photo taken by @Dshulks

Back to school means lots and lots of time spent being professionally developed.  Meetings.  Speakers.  Articles.  Research.  Data.  Data.  Lots of Data.

It also means my district's annual Welcome Back Day celebration and kick off.  Every year, all the staff in the entire district converge at one of the buildings for a continental breakfast with lots of indulgent breakfast goodies (read: donuts and donuts and donuts) along with the requisite fresh fruit and other healthy ways to start the day.

From this lively breakfast, we descend upon the gym, climb the bleachers (this year, more comfortable thanks to a staff appreciation gift of stadium cushions!) and settle in for a rousing kick off, complete with the requisite "rah-rah" speeches.  Thankfully, the speeches are usually really good.

This year was no different.

What was different, was what came after the yearly spiel.  Our guest speaker.

Three words.

Ah.  May.  Zing.

And inspiring and motivating and entertaining and engaging and resourceful and knowledgeable and humble and enthusiastic and WOW.

Kevin Honeycutt.  If you haven't had a chance to hear him speak, google him.  Now.  Find his YouTube.  Explore his website (yes, it's overwhelming - he, like me, has ADHD.)  It will be worth your time.  Not sure about all of this?

Well.  Let me tell you.  Today's Welcome Back Day was scheduled from 8:00 - 10:30.  From there, we had the rest of the day to head back to our buildings and classrooms and work on getting things ready for day one.

There were two optional breakout sessions with Kevin, one from 10:45 - 12:00, and one from 1:15 - 2:30.  I signed up for the morning session, thinking it would be a treat to work with Kevin in a smaller setting (only 30 people for the breakouts, verses the 650+ at the kick off) and knowing I'd have the afternoon to work.

Photo taken by @mwmedvinsky

Nope.  Not happening.

Instead, I found myself SO inspired, SO engaged, and SO excited to have this time with such an awesome speaker, I stayed.  For the day.  So I was at Welcome Back Day from 8:00 - 3:30.  That's how worth it Kevin's presentations were.  Don't believe me?  Go google him.

Some tidbits from my day....

• Relationships trump all - make that connection with the un-connectable kid and the impact can be life changing....
• Kids don't know what they don't know - give them a chance to change the world, you may be surprised at what happens!
• Value what kids are good at, not what they can't do.
• Perfection is the enemy of done.
• Relationship is key - believe in kids, especially when they don't believe in themselves, and maybe, just maybe, one day, they'll start to believe too.

Reflecting on the day (reflection is KEY in learning) I am so grateful to have been given the opportunity to spend my day learning with such an engaging, motivating, and meaningful person.  I look forward to connecting again..... and again..... and again!

Photo taken by @mwmedvinsky

Hello from Macul!

I am sitting in a session at Macul- this huge Tech Ed conference in Michigan.  Believe it or not it is my first year going!  I have not been disappointed- this place is a gold mine for a tech junkie like me.

In the last 36 hours I have experienced a plethora of new tools to take to the classroom. At this very moment I'm sitting in a session learning about ways to use smart devices in the classroom. Gone are the days where kids come to school and have a ton of technology at their disposal. Instead, most kids are leaving their technology at home, and coming into subpar technology at school.

Which is why I wanted to hit up to this session- it's time to let the kids bring their devices in, time to fully embrace the digital natives and all their techieness!

While I'm not going to bore you with a ramble right now, into want to share one big learning from the conference thus far- If we don't keep up with our tech savvy students...... We have to start playing on their playground now- twitter included!