Reflections On My First (of many) EdCamps

By jacomino / in Blog / October 28, 2015

This past Saturday, I attended my very first EdCamp. Located on the beautiful campus of Pine Crest School in Ft. Lauderdale, #EdCampSoFlo - BBQ Edition was very well organized by Bryan Miller and many other passionate Florida educators.

I got to see first hand what I had read about many times. The stickies, topics being written, lists of what people wanted to learn and the other list of what others wanted to share and lead in discussion.

The topics were varied and there was something for everyone. None of the sessions I chose used any technology... and I liked it! There was plenty of good discourse. Passionate educators discussing topics surrounding the need to take a close look at education as it is today and ask how we can change it.

Odd photo of me pointing at myself while talking to Rebecca Hare.

But here is the one problem I had - the educators at the EdCamp were the ones who least needed to be there. Of course, to lead the great conversations you need to have those there, but for the ideas that were shared to be heard by those who really need to hear it, there needed to be a whole other group. I usually call those the stagnant, the naysayers, the dinosaurs (note: the term dinosaur simply refers to old thinking and not at all related to age. I know there is no correlation between mindset and age).

It was great to catch up with some of my already-existing PLN like Tammy Neil, Tanya Avrith, Bryan Miller, Alexandra Baird, Richard Brummer, Nikolas Chatzopoulos, & Katrina Keene and extend my network with great educators such as Keith Peters, Rebecca Hare, Shelley A.W. Roy, Patrick Hansen & many, many more. I'm also glad to have attended with my new Associate Director of Technology, Ashley Cross, who got to meet and connect with lots of enthusiastic Florida educators.