Monday, March 9, 2015

#EdCamp OKC

...one person's reflection on the top trending events of the weekend from a post EdCamp depresh point of view...

I love the the EdCamp movement. Everyone is talking about it. Whether they were at EdCampOKC or EdCampLiberty or EdCampRowan or EdCampSWCT it blew up The Twitter this weekend.
While at EdCampOKC i started getting the feeling. For those of you that were there or at another EdCamp across the nation, or if you have ever been to an EdCamp before, you probably know the feeling. As you are sharing an idea that you are using and watching people take notes Or YOU are taking notes because someone is sharing exactly what you needed to hear...that feeling in your gut and heart at the same time. That feeling of:
 "Freaking. YES!!!" There are others like me. Finally someone gets what I have been trying to do in my classroom - building - district. Finally I found a group of people that I can truly have a conversation with.  These people will not easily dismiss my ideas because the people right here are will to put in as much blood, sweat and tears as I have been putting in.  Freaking. YES!!!!!! 

This was my eighth EdCamp to attend in a year. Each time is something new. Maybe it has something to do with the organic coming together of the day's schedule, But I don't think so. I see many of the same topics on the boards each time. Maybe it's is because I am so invested in what I do and I love surrounding myself with like minded people. Maybe it's the shenanigans we pull making us the adult version of Band Camp. I was on quite a edu-high coming off the day. Now it's Monday and I feel a little like a bride the day after the wedding. I feel like I am on the long ride home after an amazing vacation...post-vaca-depresh is what we call it in our family.


EdCamp is about connecting the dots. I pushed myself for this EdCamp. I wanted more, so I went beyond previous experiences and volunteered to help this time. I was an organizer. It was a way I could try to get more. But now I wonder...how do I continue to get more? How do I as a giver at these conferences now get or continue to receive? How do I connect to the next dot? Is there an EdCamp 2.0? Not yet. I have been planning with Hadley Furgeson, the executive director of the EdCamp Foundation Board. We have shared some ideas on how to take EdCamps to the next level for folks that still like riding the edu-high but are not receiving at the rate they used to. Also, with my wonderful #oklaed PLN we are working on planning a new experience. Possible name that Anthony, aka @MrP_tchr came up with was OklaTalks, modeled after the TED Talks. I look forward to what this can become. All I know is I need more. I want more.





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