EdCamp Miami 2016 (4 ways it is better than Fight Club!)
I had the absolute joy of participating at EdCampMiami 2016 during the weekend of November 12th. If you are an educator, innovator, tinkerer or just someone curious about the future of learning an EdCamp is for you. EdCampMiami 2016 was hosted by Gulliver Schools and included educators from around Miami-Dade & Broward. All in all, there were about 100+ outstanding participants who stayed from 8am until 3PM! There were a number of key people involved in planning the EdCamp, but I have to give a special shout-out to my friend Natalia Walchli who is a Pedagogical Coach extraordinaire at Gulliver for her leadership in keeping us all energized for the gathering.
What is an EdCamp you ask? The description is simple: " Edcamp is a form of unconference designed specifically for teachers and their needs."
Reason #1 EdCamp is created by educators....for educators. EdCamp is a form of educator professional development that is built on the principles of connected and participatory learning. Workshops are highly engaging and infused with authentic joy and passion! Every session that I attended felt like a collaborative workshop as opposed to an instructional bootcamp.
Reason #2 EdCamp borrows heavily from the world of innovation. One of the sessions I attended was lead by a science teacher (Rebecca Hare @RLH_DesignED ) who encouraged teachers to think about student's learning styles based upon the 4 different types of gamers: 1)Griefers 2)Achievers 3)Socializers & 4)Explorers.
Reason #3 EdCamp incorporates the perspectives of local innovation experts alongside committed educators. EdCamp fields insights from unconventional players in the education space. This particular EdCamp saw rich participation from the co-founders of Learn01, Nelson Milian & Willie Avendano. One particular workshop at the EdCamp featured Nelson sharing perspectives on how he has been able to introduce Virtual-Reality and Augmented Reality tools into his teaching and learning environment. Of equal value were the sessions facilitated by a few educators like Dania Borrero who shared perspectives on the power of Project Based Learning.
EdCamp provided an authentic space for educators to share not only successes but also challenges. Given the important work that FIU is able to do in conjunction with extraordinary K-12 partners in Miami-Dade County Public Schools, I found it to be illuminating getting this type of perspective. During the delicious lunch provided by Mojito Grill, I absorbed so much from educators who are comfortable in adopting a "Crash & Learn" approach to their students. I give props to those teachers that were willing to embrace failure as a means of driving outcomes that could help their students. It was clear that my friend Valerie Bostick, Assistant Head of Schools for Gulliver Pre-K to 8, was able to infuse many of the attendees with her commitment to the importance of 'Mindset' as per the breakthrough research of Carol Dweck!
Reason #4 EdCamp gives out free swag! Okay so that is not a real reason -- but I have to throw in that I won a ChromeBook for my kids in a raffle!
Reason #5 EdCamp creates a real community of learners. The closing remarks from Gator Run ES, Principal Keith Peters captured the essence of that in his closing question: "If we were going to start education again..would we do it this way?"
I am looking forward to participating in an EdCamp again in the near future and hope to hear about the experiences of others who participated in #EdCampMiami 2016!
