Balancing my full-time work as a teacher, my graduate school studies (I’m getting my Ed. S. in Instructional Technology from the amazing Kennesaw State University), and my personal life keeps me pretty busy most of the time. When my district advertised its first ever Ed Camp on a Saturday morning, I wanted to go, but the prospect of sleeping in after a busy week of conferences was extremely appealing. Thanks to a friendly poke and push via social media, that did not end up happening.
When I responded saying that October was a busy month and so I wasn’t entirely sure if I could carve out the time to do so, I was met with this:
Any Twitter post that makes a reference to Project Runway’s Tim Gunn need not be ignored. Needless to say, I went and it was phenomenal.
This “un-conference” had no formal agenda. Instead, all of the teachers, academic coaches, principals, county officials, and other CCSD employees filled in the spaces within the schedule board with their suggested topics and areas of expertise.
I could not resist this opportunity to share our new Genius Hour project with my colleagues at various levels within our educational community. They were so excited to see what we were doing within my classroom and I have now made many more friends with whom I can collaborate about this activity.
Beyond Genius Hour, I learned about many wearable tech items such as Myo, gesturing technology such as Leap Motion, and other nifty devices such as The Eye Tribe Tracker, Space Glasses, and FIN. I also learned about a variety of amazing apps and programs to enhance my classroom. These included Plickers (which I discussed in today’s lesson wrap-up post), EdPuzzle, and TouchCast. I put Plickers to work in class today and cannot wait to use TouchCast sometime soon.
I must admit, this experience was professionally invigorating. EdCamp Cobb was a worthwhile way to inject more fun into my Saturday morning.
