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EdCamp Still Rules

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  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
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Cooking my Content

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I was lucky enough to see Dave Burgess speak today.  It was amazing. I’ve read Teach Like a Pirate but the presentation I was able to be a part of what speaks to one of his many messages. It's not just what's on the page. It's how we bring it to life! This is just a quick reflection.

Content and standards are raw. They can be presented to learners, but that doesn’t mean they will be edible or nourishing.

They won’t be coming back for more.

In fact, they may take a bite and spit it out.

They may even have a violent reaction to it.

This summer, I’ve been working to design curricular units aligned to Next Generation
Science Standards. I’ve been feeling great about my work. Until I started to hear Dave
speak and realize how much I hadn’t thought about before I think about moving forward.

Have I preheated? I can’t just put the lesson out there unless the stage is set.
Have the students been primed to learn? Are they curios about what we are going to be doing?
Do the want to know?

Have I taken the students’ orders? Student voice is key.
Have I listened to learners ideas and interests in order to make that connection to their lives?

Have I considered the presentation elements?
Am I showing passion for what I am presenting?
Am I using powerful visuals experiences to present or just a series of words on a projected slide?

What will I do with content I am not passionate about?
Will I simply try to power through it or will I infuse it with the other elements that will
matter in life like Habits of Mind and Digital Literacy. When the content isn’t exciting, that
doesn’t mean the learning experience can’t be.

How will I know when it's done? Take the temperature.
Just because it looks done, doesn't mean it is.  You've got to taste it. That means getting feedback from learners.

As I look back at the curriculum I am building, I need to consider these questions and more. I could be preparing the best piece of content ever. But, I still have to add some heat and seasoning if it's going to create that memorable experience.

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