Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from February, 2017

EdCamp Still Rules

  Looking Back at 10 years of EdCamps Oh how the time flies, EdCamp Madison is turning 10 this year!  It will be held Saturday, February 3rd at Sun Prairie West High School. Which can be found at 2850 Ironwood Drive in Sun Prairie Wisconsin from 8:30 am - 3:00 pm.  Get more information and register here: https://sites.google.com/sunprairieschools.org/edcampmadwi/home   I will always remember sitting in my first EdCamp opening session at the very first EdCamp Madison and having no clue what I was in for. So, I’d like to take this space to go over some of the basic rules of EdCamp. No One Will Pitch It for You EdCamps are unconferences. By this I mean that they have a blank slate of sessions for the day. There may be a few predetermined sessions, but ultimately the session topics are determined by attendees during the pitch & plan session that opens the day. If an idea gets pitched there will be a session on it. If a topic doesn’t get pitched, there won’t be a session on it. So, it i

Problem Finders, Problem Solvers

The above quote comes from George Couros's Innovator's Mindset.  This is my second round with the #IMMOOC.  The greatest thing about the MOOC was that it provided me the space to reflect and connect with others using a common language and understanding. So, what change am I looking at now?  Over the past year, my administration has embraced the idea that professional development does not have to look the same for everyone. During our PD time, educators are often given the space to choose their own path and attend staff led sessions that meet their needs. This PD has been some of the best of my career.  It was with this in mind that, I choose to take a risk as a professional. In late 2016, I sent out an open invitation to staff in my district to see if any would be willing to come together to host an EdCamp in our district. I was amazed when over 25 peers asked to be a part of the team.  Even more impressive is that only a couple had actually attended an EdCamp.  So we