It was a busy night with some wonderful helpers but it was all worth it!
"Unconference", "vote with your feet", "rocks vs. sucks", "if I could I would..." these are just a few of the things you will hear when you attend an EdCamp morning. Saturday, I attended my third EdCamp and it was another great experience. I brought my daughter with me as she is in her 2nd year of college with aspirations of being a teacher herself. I made a vague attempt to explain the day ahead but finally gave up. It's not something you can explain to someone who hasn't been there before.
The atmosphere is engaging. The dress is casual. You don't stay with your group but quickly branch out to find what inspires you. Our first session was Twitter 101. My daughter, Kendra, was wanting to sign up and learn the basics. I was wanting to see how the presentation/discussion was laid out. In our 45 minutes, we connected with two area librarians, was introduced to Cybraryman.com and felt more confident with helping others use Twitter for PD. My daughter was hooked already. She was feverishly taking notes. She planned to present to her education class on something that she had learned from edcamp. Now, she needed to decide on what, the "unconference" atmosphere, using social media in school, or how Twitter can be used for professional development. Our second session was a library round table discussion. The topic quickly went to the changes happening in local libraries and the relevance of a librarian position. All the time we were connecting with more teachers and adding to our professional learning community. Our last session was an Edcamp staple, "Rocks Vs. Sucks". Topics are presented and you move depending on your opinion, the 'This Rocks" side or the "This Sucks" side. My daughter, having not moved from my side most of the day, branched out on her own and was able to give her college minded opinion about topics in a nonjudgmental atmosphere. Throughout the day my thoughts about education were stretched, challenged and affirmed. I connected with educators around the state. I have practical usable information and ideas that I can take back to my school and use on Monday morning. I laughed, tweeted, talked and listened. I enjoyed coffee, scones and even some frozen custard. And did I mention the entire event was FREE?! Kendra and I are already looking forward to our next Edcamp experience. Tuesday, September 15 is DOT Day! Here are a few ways that Willard East plans to CELEBRATE! *Read the book, The Dot by Peter H Reynolds or any of his other books; Ish, and Sky Color to name a few. * Watch, The Dot, on Bookflix: http://bkflix.grolier.com/lp/node-33979/bk0028pr *Use the popular line from the book, "Make Your Mark and See Where It Takes You", to inspire some creative writing. *See MANY other great ideas at The DOT website: http://www.thedotclub.org/dotday/get-inspired/making-a-mark *Download the DOT day handbook: http://www.fablevisionlearning.com/fablevision-dot-day-handbook *Singing along to The Bouncing Dot Official Song! https://vimeo.com/104743082 *Creating a giant mural in the hall with each student's personalized DOT. *Projecting "Celebri-Dots" on our hall T.V. : http://www.celebridots.com/ *Hopefully..... a Skype session with another classroom sharing what we have done!! (any takers??) *We have also created a Padlet to share our ideas with each other: http://padlet.com/lisahillenburg/17g7octtb2mz ...AND OF COURSE WE WILL ALL BE WEARING DOTS!!! I have been inspired by my friend and coworker, Natalie Roth to be part of International DOT Day. She has participated much more than I and I'm looking forward to seeing her great work again.
What are you planning??? Please share!! Yep, we use self checkout at Willard East! This started last year when I was very new and didn't completely know what I was doing. :) More accurately, I didn't have a preconceived notion about how we had always done things, so it didn't seem too scary to me. Last year, we started with the first class on the first day and never looked back. A few quick facts about our system... *We use "Destiny". *I printed the student/patron barcodes and affixed them to either spiral notebooks (2nd - 4th) or 6x8 card stock (K-1st). These are used as shelf savers and reading response notebooks. *Each barcode label includes the student's picture. *Students know to find their own shelf saver from their class tub. *Students are taught to scan their shelf saver first then check the computer for their name then scan their books. *Students are also taught to listen for the "happy" and "sad" sounds that the computer makes to tell them if they have checked out or are overdue or other cues. *The kids are excellent about "managing" each other. They listen for the sounds and look over each other's shoulders and really do help each other with reminders. Some of the biggest benefits are... *I'm not standing at the circulation desk scanning. I'm working with students to find good fit books. *Students can come and go to check in an check out books while I'm working with another class without any interruptions. *Student helpers can check in books from their entire class and organized them on the shelving cart for students to access easily. *Students don't have to wait on me to get to them and they feel empowered to return and get new books as needed. It's a Win Win! |
Lisa HillenburgNew to my career but not to kids and learning. Archives
August 2018
|