Why I #Edcamp
It wasn't until #EdcampELM that I was questioned: "Why do you continue to attend so many edcamps and maintain such a willingness to share?"
Truthfully, I feel a professional obligation in my heart to attend for the following reasons:
a: To support my own personal and professional learning.
b: To help support the learning of others.
c. It's what's best for kids.
And for those reasons, I am ALL IN. If I didn't go to edcamps my thinking wouldn't be challenged and neither would the learning or ideas of others. As educators we have so much to share that has the potential to support or inspire the work of other educators.
That is truly where I get my professional passion and obligation to attend.
Another benefit of attending is the relationships that you form. There are a considerable number of members of my PLN that have become more than just acquaintances and help hold me accountable in both my personal and professional life.
I also recently realized this with my grad school experience. I would say that my biggest takeaway from my first full year of grad school is:
"Going back to school holds a greater purpose than just my learning. It's about impact; doing all that I can to impact those around me." -@andreakornowski
I have found that is my professional obligation as an educator to both challenge and support the ideas of others within our online discussion board and have even gone the lengths of being told that the support I provide feels like I am one of my classmates' building coaches. Lately the most controversial topics that I have had to challenge are thoughts around the difficulty of reassessments, traditional grading practices, and the grading of homework. Truthfully this might take some extra time by creating additional responses (above and beyond the two required each week) but I feel that is truly what is best for kids and our educational systems.
This past weekend I attended my 33rd #edcamp (which doesn't include any of the other unconferences and edcamps that I've attended (as as result of conferences that I've participated in) or hosted. I'm really glad that I was able to attend this one in particular because it was very heavily attended by teachers from the host district and one of the benefits of an edcamp is being able to elicit an outside perspective. I feel like I did the right thing by attending; taking a few hours out on my Saturday for a drive and participation. I also think I might have walked away with inspiration for a future Google Innovator Academy application. More to come at a future date...
A Challenge to myself and to YOU: Next time you attend an #edcamp, be sure to invite a friend or two. You'll never know the impact that it might have on their career or their students.
A Challenge to myself and to YOU: Next time you attend an #edcamp, be sure to invite a friend or two. You'll never know the impact that it might have on their career or their students.
EdcampMadWI 2017 Crew
Agreed. Edcamps hold so much ridiculous potential. I still think most people don't get it but they are always so very meaningful and inspirational to me. All of what you said and so so so much more!!!
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