Ed Camp

This week, our Itinerant Learning Network prepared an Ed Camp for the administrators in the district.  Similar to a the unconference that we did last year, ed camp is designed specifically for teachers and their needs.  Prior to our meeting, the planning team sent out an electronic survey requesting input from us about the burning topics on our minds.  They collected and collated that data, and organized a schedule with meeting rooms for the most common topics (see below).

 

We then chose where to go, sat down and waited for the group to form.  We then began to talk and share, generating all sorts of ideas to borrow and steal, and colleagues to network with for support and collaborate with.  It was authentic, it was real and it was time well spent.  Instead of feeling talked to, I was an active participant in each conversation, some as a listener and some as speaker.

In the end, we were asked to identify topics/colleagues that we would like to work with and some dates were given for us to meet.  People self-selected roles such as presenter, expert, experienced, novice and host.  Some of us will stick to one topic within one group, and others will move from topic to topic and group to group, as there needs see fit.  At the end of the year, we have a date scheduled for a dinner meeting where we will all collect and share out our experiences.

Some of the highlights from my experience on building collaboration in schools:

• one colleague has 60 student teachers visiting the school on Tuesday mornings to observe instructional practice in the classroom so that they can compare experiences and debrief back at the University.  Wow, isn't that cool (for both the school and the student teachers)!
• one colleague has built a block of collaborative time into the weekly schedule of the teacher-librarian to help teachers find a teaching partner to collaborate with.  We are also doing this at our school.  Yah us!
• one colleague blocks school-based team time into her assembly schedule so that the SBT can meet during weeks when there are no assemblies.  This is great for her because it is a time when no one has a scheduling conflict.  We can't do this because of part-time schedules this year, but it gives us some great ideas for next year.
• one colleague is engaging intermediate teachers with the early learning profiles (literacy) that teachers build for each student K-3.  We hope to get there soon.
• one colleague has started moving staff meetings around the school to different classrooms, giving people a chance to connect with people and ideas in  a way that they never seem able to.  What a great idea!  They are even considering moving off-site for a future meeting.
• two colleagues of very small school combined staff meetings, alternating between the two schools.  They shared the agenda and projects, and then planned implementation days and their ELFF (Early Literacy for Families) nights together.  Awesome!
• one colleague at a high school has a department identifying learning objectives and sharing those with its feeder schools in an attempt to better identify the stumbling blocks for students.  Cool.
• one large school gives up every second staff meeting for departmental collaborative time.  The Principal provides a focus question and collects minutes from department heads.  I love the stories about people finding ways to make it work.

For me, this is the type of professional development that really gets me jazzed up;  it gets me actively engaged in my own learning and learning needs.  I leave feeling like I am in touch with the pulse of the district, which is something that can be hard to do when you are busy working away at your own small school. :)

Click here for some more information on Ed Camps:  http://edcamp.org/