EdCamps are professional development days that allow teachers to share knowledge with one another without all the boring meetings, lectures, and unnecessary keynotes. Teachers show up and bring ideas that they want to present and stick them to a big board; everyone gets to choose where they go and what they want to learn/talk about. The best part about EdCamps is that there is 0 need for you to stay in a session if it isn’t interesting/working for you. This is called ‘voting with your feet’ and it really resonated with me.
In our class, we had the chance to suggest ideas for discussion topics, and the ones with the most votes will be explored in groups – such a great approach to inquiry! I chose to join the group called ‘Your Kids Don’t Suck, Their Presentations Do.’ The title grabbed me right away, and the topic felt super relatable. I’ve seen so many lackluster PowerPoint presentations, so it really resonated with me.
Allister lead the conversation and it was a really great discussion. We chatted about teaching students basic graphic design for their slideshow to “pop” more, expressing projects through different means besides power points, and knowing how to strike the intended audience. Furthermore, we also chatted about topics I never thought about, such as students having challenges with anxiety, and confidence when they present. Throughout my time in elementary and high school I was taught that doing presentations was something we just had to do despite any kind of challenges. I am wondering if it is different now, or do we still want to push our students?
No matter what I end up doing in my future classroom, I know that I learned more from that short discussion than I did in some of my classes during high school. Engaging with material in a meaningful, shared way with my peers was a great experience, and I’d love to do it again once I become a ‘real’ teacher.