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Less Physics Mo Problems

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Why am I writing this personal entry? Well, it is not an attempt to gain any sympathy. It attempts to show what is possible if a clear intention and goal serve the learner's needs.  In May of 2022 just near the end of another fantastic school year, I do not remember what happened. But, I was unable to finish the school year and was unable to teach the following year.  Why? On May 21st, 2022, I fell down a flight of 16 stairs (luckily carpeted) from the 2nd to 1st story of our home.  I was found at the bottom of the stairs. I was found foaming at the mouth. This would lead to a 2-month hospital stay which included an induced coma because my seizures would not stop, several rounds of lumbar punctures, and relearning basic physical movements like something as simple as being able to roll in the hospital bed. Simply put, when I was admitted to the hospital, I was diagnosed as being “critically ill.” Please take a moment and read those words: critically ill. They are not terms...
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EdCamp Elmbrook 21

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We had out 5th annual EdCamp this past Saturday and it was a very different PD experience. Due to the pandemic, we help the EdCamp virtually. That meant that anyone across the globe could attend. While we usually only have educators from out region attend, we had educators across the nation and in some in Canada attend. In addition, we had an attendee from Turkey!

The conference was conducted using Zoom and Zoom breakout rooms for the sessions. The team did a great job of organization and management. I could go on, but this is my first blog post in a while and I'd like to keep it brief. Below you'll find the session board for the day with notes docs linked. We had some wonderful sessions and the notes documents house some wonderful thoughts and resources. So, I recommend checking them out.


Although this EdCamp was only for the morning, there was a lot of learning to be had. We had no technology issues from our end as organizers but I can imagine participants may have had issues with connectivity. 
The major downside was the inability to connect face to face with educators and many times conversations don't flow as well virtually as they do in person. But I loved that we increased the pool from which educators were joining from. I also loved that it was a simple process for educators to be able to share their screens with others in Zoom. 
Overall there are pros and cons to a virtual edcamp. But at the end of the day I think we were all able to share our experience, learn from each other, and grow our network. So, I'm glad Andelee Espinosa and Lisa Camponeschi talked me into not skipping EdCamp Elmbrook this year and going virtual. Even more that the EdCamp Elmbrook team of Andelee, Andrew Flegel, Dan  Scott, Danielle Shryock, Emily Paprocki, Jen Townsend, Jill Michalak, Jon Vogt, Kayla Moffatt, Mary Beth Bartels, Michael Carini, Michelle Schueller, Mike Rakowiecki, and Trish St. George all pitched in to make the event possible.


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