Disclaimer: I wrote this about 4 weeks ago, but forgot to press "publish!"
Yes, that's me. Careening around like a whirling camping dervish. Last week I spent 4 glorious days at Camp Greenkill with our 140 Seventh Graders and 17 other teachers doing 4 out of the 5 days of Outdoor Ed. I had to leave a day early to get prepared for EdcampLI. This week, I have multiple committee meetings, a keynote about Coding and Math on Tuesday (which I am still fine tuning) and a 5 day trip to Canada on Friday for a big family event! Wait! I'm also helping out on #nErDCampLI coming on November 7.... So in other words, it's been crazy around here!
As I got to thinking about our second successful, wonderful, fun-filled, joyful edcampLI and what I want to say about its impact on me personally, professionally and others I observed, the word "camp" was really what was rolling around my otherwise cluttered brain. "Camp" brings to mind so many wonderful emotions for me! Brookhaven Country Day Camp, (where I learned that knowing every kid's name and who their brothers and sisters are is important to a kid, thanks to Neil and Michael Pollack), Captree Country Day School (first bee sting and anaphylaxis) , Usdan Center For the Creative and Performing Arts, Tent-Camping, Glamping (I'm good at this one), camp reunions, Club Getaway, friendships that are still pretty real even after more than twenty, thirty-five or forty years! Camp has been a strong influence in my life. I was very lucky, that as a kid that my parents could afford to send me to day camp here on Long Island, and when my performing abilities eventually budded, on to Usdan to practice musical theater. When I grew out of kid camps, I went to college - the ultimate camp...then I really went camping...with my friends, colleagues, and now with my husband and my students. In fact, I met my husband at a sleep-away camp for grown ups called Club Getaway! Whew! So clearly, camp is an important influence in my life.
So with all that in mind, I realize why EDCampLI is so important to me beyond the obvious need I have to absorb, learn, and teach. It is the communal camp experience, the journey of something built and done and learned together that I find to be the thing I like best. Whether it is putting on a musical at Usdan (props, costumes, music and staging), the hard work of building something from scratch (a tent, a fire, an educational movement), or the joy of doing something really cool you never did before (color wars, camping on the beach, creating learning opportunities) with people you really like (group-mates, roommates, colleagues) camp is the experience that is so intense, it has a way of binding people with glue-like consistency.
Here's what happens on the day of edcampLI: As a participant, when you arrive at 8 am to an empty session wall, and leave at 3 pm having not only learned in three sessions, but presented in one, eaten two meals (and some snacks), won some swag, and made some new friends - all in six hours... the hyper accelerated thrill of camp is in full force on you, and you have experienced the exact same thing you did in your first week of summer camp!
And although there is some drama for the coordinators before the event and during the event.... is there enough food? Which classrooms should we use? Do we have enough sponsors? is the WiFi going to let us Tweet? The "campers" experience an organized, professional, fun, and exhilarating day of learning. The cycle has now repeated twice here on Long Island, and I've observed it more times than that at other edcamps.
The other thing that happens on the day of edcampLI: acceptance. If you choose to give a session, people come, accepting that you know what you are talking about... if they are enjoying your session, and it is what they need, they stay, if they need something else, they go. You, as the presenter, also accept that idea. People leave, and it has nothing to do with deflating your ego, or hurting you, or that you are not "good" or "smart" - it's just that people need to go and find fulfillment on their own terms. This is the way learning works best. I'm not saying that we as teachers should allow students to leave our rooms, or only teach what kids like to learn, but accept that everyone has needs and limitations and work with them, not against them.
So, "edcamping" has replaced musical theater, horseback riding, rowing on a lake, and building campfires for me. Hopefully I'm building new fires now, in the hearts and minds of other educators and in turn helping them to do the same!
So with all that in mind, I realize why EDCampLI is so important to me beyond the obvious need I have to absorb, learn, and teach. It is the communal camp experience, the journey of something built and done and learned together that I find to be the thing I like best. Whether it is putting on a musical at Usdan (props, costumes, music and staging), the hard work of building something from scratch (a tent, a fire, an educational movement), or the joy of doing something really cool you never did before (color wars, camping on the beach, creating learning opportunities) with people you really like (group-mates, roommates, colleagues) camp is the experience that is so intense, it has a way of binding people with glue-like consistency.
Here's what happens on the day of edcampLI: As a participant, when you arrive at 8 am to an empty session wall, and leave at 3 pm having not only learned in three sessions, but presented in one, eaten two meals (and some snacks), won some swag, and made some new friends - all in six hours... the hyper accelerated thrill of camp is in full force on you, and you have experienced the exact same thing you did in your first week of summer camp!
And although there is some drama for the coordinators before the event and during the event.... is there enough food? Which classrooms should we use? Do we have enough sponsors? is the WiFi going to let us Tweet? The "campers" experience an organized, professional, fun, and exhilarating day of learning. The cycle has now repeated twice here on Long Island, and I've observed it more times than that at other edcamps.
The other thing that happens on the day of edcampLI: acceptance. If you choose to give a session, people come, accepting that you know what you are talking about... if they are enjoying your session, and it is what they need, they stay, if they need something else, they go. You, as the presenter, also accept that idea. People leave, and it has nothing to do with deflating your ego, or hurting you, or that you are not "good" or "smart" - it's just that people need to go and find fulfillment on their own terms. This is the way learning works best. I'm not saying that we as teachers should allow students to leave our rooms, or only teach what kids like to learn, but accept that everyone has needs and limitations and work with them, not against them.
So, "edcamping" has replaced musical theater, horseback riding, rowing on a lake, and building campfires for me. Hopefully I'm building new fires now, in the hearts and minds of other educators and in turn helping them to do the same!