Redcamp 2014... An Engaging Experience

Well, another edcamp in Red Deer is on the books. There were so many thoughts that struck me during the event, but one really hit me. At an unprecedented time of excitement and change in the domain of education in Alberta, a large number of engaged and connected educators and others who support teaching and learning found the time on a Saturday to come together in collaborative conversation; they were there because they wanted to be there. This is such a positive and encouraging thing.

Participants at #redcamp14 came together to connect, share and receive in that awesome place between analyzing perspective and moving people to action... the "edcamp sweet spot" so to speak.

Teachers, administrators, parents, students, educational assistants, professionals who support education, politicians all took time out of their personal lives to create dialog around making education better, and there were 19% more who participated this year than at last year`s inaugural Redcamp event... and we were thrilled with the turnout then! This is incredible, and inspiring and definitely provides a rationale for planning another event next year, and perhaps coordinating a series of edcamp events throughout Alberta.


I was fortunate yesterday to speak with organizers of edcamps in Edmonton and Calgary, and also a fledgling event to be held in Parkland County. We were bantering about the concept of "Edcamp Alberta" next year, with "tour stops" in existing edcamp communities, (Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge, Red Deer and now Parkland County.) Doing this would expand our ability to promote and cross promote the edcamp experience, and ramp up the level of social collaboration behind planning them. The process may even inspire other local groups to create a new event tour stop within their community. We all have good ideas and ways to make things better, faster and cheaper... sharing our knowledge and experience with each other would strengthen everyone's event offering. This would be connecting in the true spirit of edcamps, but with total respect for the local flare of each event. Redcamp organizers are excited about the potential of this effort.

I heard the word engagement many times yesterday. I heard it from a group of Glendale Sciences and Technology School students who hosted a session describing their efforts to initiate a TED Ed Club at their school. I heard it from educators during other sessions and in casual hallway conversations saying we need more of the kind of opportunity to connect in engaging professional dialog that edcamps provide.

I heard it from a school council chair who stated she felt the edcamp model would be an excellent platform to engage parents and community in the school improvement dialog and I also heard it from many new teachers who were excited to discover the format of edcamps and how they provide so many opportunities to connect with other engaged educators excited about what they do and how they do it, not to mention other stakeholders in providing high quality education for kids. Overheard from one enthusiastic young teacher...

"I love coming to a place where everybody loves their job."

And from another...

"I wish all of my professional development looked like this; I feel engaged and connected here as opposed just sitting and getting."

To be sure, edcamps are not just a ride on the professional development train. Edcamps are not passive, they are active. They are hopeful. They are engaging. They connect and they inspire. Here's to another great event at #redcamp14, and looking forward to helping ours and other edcamps grow and thrive in Alberta.

See you next year!

Redcamp14: Party time, excellent!

Teachers’ Convention comes at a great time in the year: February! We have been back to school after the Christmas break for about a month or a little more, it is still cold outside and we have had WAY too many indoor recesses! As educators, we are ready for a break from the classroom and look forward to learning from experts and fellow colleagues presenting on a variety of topics. Most teachers will tell you they enjoy the sessions at Convention but the part they really look forward to is the chance to reconnect with colleagues they have known for years, have worked with in the past or even who work in the same building but they never see in their busy school days. They also very much look forward to actually having time to eat out for lunch! 

The sessions at Convention tend to be a lot of sit and get which is worthwhile if the speaker is dynamic and has some thought-provoking things to say. However, I often come away from those types of sessions with a few key phrases I will remember for a short time and then, if I don’t read more about the topic, I will likely forget what it is I was to have learned. This reminds of the popular quote; attributed to an ancient Chinese proverb, Native American saying or Ben Franklin, depending on where you look on the internet:

(image courtesy of: http://www.thequotefactory.com/ )

I enjoy listening to the professional and often times famous speakers at Convention but it is kind of like going to the symphony. I sit, I enjoy, I clap and then I leave. I’m not sure how much I will retain or remember but I can say that it was entertaining. I feel that my involvement in my learning in this format has improved slightly though backchannel Twitter commenting which involves me as a participant more than passive listening has done b.t. (Before Twitter), but I find that the real learning happens AFTER the session or presentation in conversation with my colleagues over coffee or lunch. This dialogue about issues in Education helps me relate to what was presented and will trigger further learning and curiosity about the topic. I may continue a chat about it with someone at school, online or at a district event or meeting. I may purchase the presenter’s book or related books or look for more information on Twitter or Google+. It is this active involvement in my learning which fires me up and which I feel impacts my practice as a teacher and administrator.

That’s what I love about the edcamp style of PD we saw last year at Redcamp13 and our District Day of Personalized Learning and Collaboration, both of which will repeat this year. The conversations happen right there, with the presenter in the room who may or may not claim expertise. They may in fact have much to offer in the way of expertise or experience or they may have simply offered to facilitate the conversation with thought-provoking questions, or resources. Whatever the structure, they provide the stimulus to get EVERYONE in the room to share their knowledge and experiences at the table (or circle, or sofa, or wherever we choose to sit!) and not just the paid expert at the front of the lecture hall.

So, if you are also a fan of the sort of connecting that happens AFTER the PD at Convention, you will most certainly love what happens at Redcamp14. It is participant driven, it is real conversations about education, it is involvement as a learner, it is FREE, and it is FUN! It is the after-party while the party is still going on! Excellent!

Hope to “party” with you at Redcamp14: May 31, 2014 in Red Deer, Alberta at Glendale Sciences and Technology School.

Diane Roberts
@robertsdrb

(image courtesy: http://i.imgur.com/asVqaxu.jpg)

Engaging Dialog at #redcamp14...

The conversations are beginning to heat up for #redcamp14! Our faithful and engaged registrants have already provided a proposed line up of sessions that would blow our socks off even if this was to be the end of the list (but we know it won't:) 

So far this May 31 in Red Deer, AB, participants will be choosing between these proposed sessions at #redcamp 2014... the "put it up on the board" process the morning of our event will tell us where the the highest levels of interest are, and that's where the conversations will go!

• Resilient teaching and learning
• Creative teaching and learning
• Inquiry learning
• Integrated curriculum/project-based learning in the middle school cohort
• Inclusion
• Learning workflow 
• Mobile devices
• Competency based learning vs. content based learning
• Flipped classrooms
• Google EDU teaching and learning environments
• Curriculum redesign
• Video tutorial creation
•  ipad e-book creation 
• Blogging in teaching and learning
• The power of social networking in education
• Teaching skateboarding in school
• Empathetic teaching and learning 
• Technology in the elementary classroom
• The teenage brain
• Mindfulness
• Student leadership
• Developmental Assets
• Cognitive Behavioral Theory
• Innovation Day/Genius Hour
• Inspiring Ed
• New AB Education Act/Regulations, Capital Planning, Infrastructure
• The learner is the center in the 21st Century classroom
• Digital leadership or how our school is using social media to gather data
• The entrepreneurial student... and you!
• Little Green Thumbs Program - www.littlegreenthumbs.org
• What can school gardens teach us?... Bring your shovel and smile and we'll show you!
• I would be interested in sharing my journey of transforming my classroom into a 1:1 device classroom
• Humane education - teaching that inspires compassion for animals, people and the environment
• Learning Centers in secondary ELA classroom
• The Great School Assembly
• The Return of the "Redcamp Jam"
• Response to Intervention
• Improving School Literacy

If you are unfamiliar with how edcamps work, please go ahead and reference some of the stories from last year... Ron Eberts wrote about it here. Diane Roberts wrote about it here. Sean Grainger wrote about it here, and Kirby Fecho, a third year preservice teacher wrote about it here. We even had a #redcamp13 song last year! Hey Tim, Ev... what about an encore performance? See you all on May 31!

@redcamp13 Thanks for the great day. Instead of blogging, we sang about it. Here is "Big Brains" youtube.com/watch?v=c2kZ2j… #redcamp13
— Tim Bowman (@BowmanTwits) May 12, 2013