The inaugural EdCamp35 was held in Langley, BC at R.E. Mountain Secondary this past Saturday. I had a lot of fun preparing for this event with the rest of the EdCamp35 planning team, who dedicated countless hours to ensuring that the event would be a success.
I have to admit that leading up to the event, I was extremely nervous for the day to come. This was the first edcamp that I'd really had a hand in planning (I did a tiny bit of work for EdCampWest Online last year) and of course, I wanted it to be a progressive and useful day for the attendees. The planning team worked very hard to emphasize the adoption of suggesting and voting for professional development that you wanted and/or needed, of open conversations rather than presentations, of voting with your feet, and of building empathy and networking with different educational stakeholders in order to find alternative perspectives on education.
There were plenty of registrants from our own district representing all areas in education - teachers, administration, support staff, student teachers, parents, students, school trustees, and district leadership. (When your District Leadership Team shows up AND sits in sessions to listen, you know your district is headed in a good direction!) We also had incredible representation from all over the Lower Mainland, the island, the Sunshine Coast, and we even had an international showing!
I have to admit that leading up to the event, I was extremely nervous for the day to come. This was the first edcamp that I'd really had a hand in planning (I did a tiny bit of work for EdCampWest Online last year) and of course, I wanted it to be a progressive and useful day for the attendees. The planning team worked very hard to emphasize the adoption of suggesting and voting for professional development that you wanted and/or needed, of open conversations rather than presentations, of voting with your feet, and of building empathy and networking with different educational stakeholders in order to find alternative perspectives on education.
There were plenty of registrants from our own district representing all areas in education - teachers, administration, support staff, student teachers, parents, students, school trustees, and district leadership. (When your District Leadership Team shows up AND sits in sessions to listen, you know your district is headed in a good direction!) We also had incredible representation from all over the Lower Mainland, the island, the Sunshine Coast, and we even had an international showing!
The #bcedchat mod team meets face-to-face! So, the actual day? It rocked. The honest truth is that any edcamp is driven by the participants in it... of which, as I mentioned earlier, we had a lot of awesome ones. Here are my awesome eduwins, thanks to those folks:
Getting to hang out and throw together the details with an awesome planning team? Check.
Meeting the #bcedchat mod team face-to-face -- the first time all four of us were ever in the same room? Check.
That feeling when all of the technological workflows that you set up for the day actually work? Check. (Okay, so this was a personal win for me, though my PLN did get involved a little bit. Also, see our shared documents here.)
Having awesome conversations that expanded my thinking? Check.
Getting to meet so many members of my PLN that I had talked to extensively online? Check.
And now, 2 days later, there has been a particular influx of poetry on social media (yes, poetry - you know who you all are) in reflection on the EdCamp35 experience, so here is my little contribution:
Getting to hang out and throw together the details with an awesome planning team? Check.
Meeting the #bcedchat mod team face-to-face -- the first time all four of us were ever in the same room? Check.
That feeling when all of the technological workflows that you set up for the day actually work? Check. (Okay, so this was a personal win for me, though my PLN did get involved a little bit. Also, see our shared documents here.)
Having awesome conversations that expanded my thinking? Check.
Getting to meet so many members of my PLN that I had talked to extensively online? Check.
And now, 2 days later, there has been a particular influx of poetry on social media (yes, poetry - you know who you all are) in reflection on the EdCamp35 experience, so here is my little contribution:
The EdCamp35 Planning Team (missing: Katherine Mulski) I would like to end this post by thanking the planning team for EdCamp35. Events like these would never be made possible without the amazing support that we received in our district. A special thanks goes to Magdy Ghobrial, Ngaire Leaf, Nick Ubels, Chris Wejr, Shawn Davids, and Katherine Mulski for their devotion, attention to detail, sense of humour, and pure awesomeness that you brought to this experience. I can't wait to work with you all again next year.
Thank you to all that attended EdCamp35! I'm loving the incredibly reflective blog posts, emails, and feedback that our team has been getting from the attendees. Keep 'em coming!
Thank you to all that attended EdCamp35! I'm loving the incredibly reflective blog posts, emails, and feedback that our team has been getting from the attendees. Keep 'em coming!
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