Monday, September 30, 2013

edcampDSM

First, let's acknowledge that I'm a terrible blogger.  In fact, I just deleted the one draft that I had written to this blog.  However, this past weekend was edcampDSM and that, combined with the internal need to do something different and push myself to grow as an educator, along with lots of other little instances, have amounted to me wanting to hold myself accountable to reflecting about my learning journey.

This past weekend, we hosted our first edcampDSM.  Something that I hope becomes an annual event.  After months of planning, it is finally over. In the days and weeks leading up to #edcampDSM, I worried and stressed about whether or not it would be a true #edcamp (we'll talk about that later).  I reportedly would even talk about sessions in my sleep.  I stressed about whether or not people would show up.  I even stressed about whether or not there would be enough food.

As an inaugural #edcamp, I think the participants hit it out of the park.  Seriously, I don't think you can have a good edcamp without a fantastic group of people attending.  I'd venture to say that 70% of the people at edcampDSM were newbies to the edcamp model and rocked the idea of participant driven conversations.  Seriously, rocked it.  They embraced the 'Rule of Two Feet' and spent time connecting and collaborating.  Sessions were filled and there were plenty of doughnuts, coffee and cookies left for us to donate to the kids of Crestview Elementary (ok, we dumped the coffee).

As an organizer, I had a much different experience at #edcampDSM than I've had at other edcamps I've attended.  Usually, I go to an edcamp for selfish reasons, I want/need to engage in my own professional development, I want/need to connect with people from my PLN and I want/need to push my thinking.  I'm not sure if this is the 'right' mentality but, I definitely haven't gone to an edcamp with the desire to impress anyone with what I've done it's always been about my own learning.  As an organizer, I so so so wanted everyone to have a great experience, to learn and love edcamps as much as I do, to believe that there are other like minded educators.  Guess what, I still walked out of #edcampDSM learning a few things:

  • I'm a better educator when I engage in conversations that help me grow.  Whether listening to others defend a stance in Rocks and Sucks or talking with other job alike people, I need to continue to pursue opportunities for me explore, push and learn.
  • A PLN is invaluable, whether it's someone you see on a regular basis or someone you can learn with online.  I'll be honest, there are times when being the only person in your position in the district is a lonely job but, edcamp reaffirms for me that there are so many similar people out there, even if we're spread across districts, cities and states. 
  • There's a huge value in being positive.  It's so so easy to get negative about something but, you're more likely to meaningfully connect with someone else when you approach a situation with less negativity.
  • Learning is social.  It occurs in conversations, formally and informally.  I need to spend more time connecting. 
I'm certain my brain hasn't fully made sense of #edcampDSM yet...hopefully I can continue to wrestle with it here.

P.S.  In case you haven't seen these posts yet, my PLN is awesome.  I feel extremely lucky to have been able to connect with them in person this weekend.  Thanks for making me a better educator, folks.  Please check out posts from some of them like Mande, Brent, DevinFran and Brian for more #edcampDSM reflections.  Also, some stats from the day can be found here.

P.P.S.  Who wants to learn with me at #edcampKC?!