EdCamp Cape Cod

Ok, so this is my first attempt at blogging.  I figure I should start a blog since I will be asking my students to do some blogging this year.  The first decision I had to make as I embarked on this new quest was “what should I blog about?”  My choice ended up being …EdCamp Cape Cod!

This “un-conference” was held just over a month ago and I happened to be one of the many co-organizers of EdCamp Cape Cod .  I am very proud of how successful this first-time (on Cape Cod) event was and feel so fortunate to have worked with such an awesome team.  In addition to the EdCamp Team, we had many other volunteers (including students) setting up and working tirelessly throughout day.

EdCamp Cape Cod was an idea first discussed back in March during lunch at a Burlington High School event.  At that time I had no idea how much time, effort, and energy would be involved in hosting this educational gathering. Pre-planning for EdCamp Cape Cod included meetings about food, t-shirt logos, classroom logistics, where to put the session board and much more. But I must say it was well worth it.

Attendees started arriving shortly before 8:00 a.m. Soon they were chatting with each other, perusing the snack table and viewing the EdCamp session board.  It was apparent early on that many of the people were attending an EdCamp for the very first time.  (Heck, this was only my second EdCamp).  The opening ceremonies were about to begin and there were only a few session topics posted on the board. Yikes!  However, after the EdCamp Cape Cod introduction which included an explanation of how EdCamps work the board started to fill up quickly with topics such as “Flip Your Class,” “Book Creation on the iPad,”  “Chat with real students” and more. So let the sessions begin.

While it was a great day - EdCamp Cape Cod did have a minor glitch (mostly during the a.m. sessions).  The wifi network was not cooperating and internet access was at a minimum.  While this could have developed into a total disaster – it did not.  As members of the tech team worked effortlessly to resolve the issue I had the opportunity to walk around the classrooms where the sessions were being held.  The network situation didn't put a damper on our EdCamp un-conference (from what I could see).  What I observed as I went from room to room was groups of educators having rich discussions about all things education, best practices, student learning, etc.  The level of engagement I witnessed among the attendees reflected the main principle behind EdCamps – a place for educators to discuss, share, learn, collaborate, make connections,  etc. Overall, EdCamp Cape Cod provided an awesome professional development opportunity for all the attendees.

I suppose I could go on and on about EdCamp Cape Cod but I will stop here.
I would however like to thank my amazing colleagues and co-organizers:
Beth Donahue, Chris Dumas, Nate Everett, Mary Kelly, Karen McGrath, Alison Nelson, and Josh Rodrigues (just joshing) for the hard work and dedication put into this event.  We all worked so well together and most importantly had fun while planning.  Looking forward to EdCamp Cape Cod 2014!  Thinking lighthouse or lobster logo...