I have been blessed in regard to the conferences I have attended this past school year: NCTE, MRA, IRC, All Write, ALA… so much to learn and so many friends to see. All of the conferences have been special in their own way, but none have intrigued me as much as last week’s nErDcamp.
Based on
the Edcamp model, nErDcamp was the brainchild of an awesome friend, Colby
Sharp. Along with his wife, Alaina, and a fabulous group of educators/friends,
the first nErDcamp occurred this past Thursday.
I headed north to Michigan on Wednesday with Donalyn Miller driving and book titles flying between us. We were both excited to see some friends and intrigued at what nErDcamp would be like. That night many Nerdy Book Club friends met up for dinner at Dark Horse Brewery. I won’t even bother to list the folks that were there for fear of forgetting someone, I’ll just say it was an amazing evening and if you were there, the chance is good that Colby Sharp convinced you to write a post for Nerdy Book Club – or called you to remind you to write the post.
Thursday
dawned early and many of us headed to nErDcamp – after picking up some much
needed coffee. Upon approaching the high school we were greeted with the sign
welcoming us
And many enthusiastic
volunteers. The nErDcamp organizers had bags of goodies for the first one hundred
and fifty people there – advanced copies of books, posters, bookmarks, and
more. We checked in, ordered our lunch, and headed to the main room.
Once
everyone was settled, Colby explained how the day would work. We had six slots
each hour and were going to have two hour-long sessions before lunch, two
after. We brainstormed as small groups what sessions we would like to see the
first two hours of the day. If you were willing to lead a session, you told the
organizers and your session title and your name were added to the Google Doc.
Once the morning sessions were filled, it was off to learn. 
I will say regarding the brainstorming session that I was floored by how quickly the sessions were filled. I was worried at first – what if no one wanted to lead a session? What if everyone just sat there? I needn’t have worried; the energy in the room was electrifying. I wish it could be bottled and passed out at faculty meetings around the country. AMAZING!
I first
attended a session on Evernote led by Cathy Mere, Karen Terlecky, and Alaina
Sharp. I was super excited about this because I’ve begun using Evernote this
year but know there are ways to use it I haven’t even begun to see. The session
was wonderful with great ideas being shared by presenters and participants.
The
second session I attended was Motivating Readers and Writers through Technology
led by Suz Gibbs and Donalyn Miller. Again, great ideas given by the presenters
and participants. I left with new ideas for my class and was tying the new
learning to the #cyberpd book I’m reading as well.
 |
| Jerzy |
 |
| Nerdy Book Club Team |
I’ve led
several professional development sessions over the past few years and these
were some of my favorites. I didn’t have to prepare, stress out, work hard on a
presentation before attending nErDcamp. After lunch Donalyn turned to me and
asked if I wanted to do something on Nerdy Book Club. I said sure. Shortly
after that Colby came up and asked if I’d join Jerzy in talking about the
importance of graphic novels. I agreed. I walked into each session with no
preparation beyond what I know to be true in my classroom – and that was all
that was needed. I also loved that the presenters learned as much from the
participants as they did from us. This was collaborative learning as it was
meant to be.
We
wrapped up nErDcamp back in the large room with door prizes and folks heading
to the front to share what they learned that day. I shook my head as we finally
headed to the car. I spent the day with folks that willingly gave up a summer
vacation day to learn, lead sessions, and grow as professionals.
I keep
thinking about this model of learning – could it be done on a district level?
Would that work on one of our Inservice days? I’m sure that it could, but I
need to think it through. What I do know is this, it was incredible and I
cannot wait to attend again.
Click on
the room number to be taken to the notes page someone in that session recorded
for everyone.
If you did attend and wrote your own blog write up, will you link the blog in the comments? I will add them to the bottom of the post as we go so we can have a one-stop spot for our reflection from the amazing day.
Thanks Colby, Alaina, and everyone who worked hard to make the first nErDcamp such a success!
nErDcamp blog post round up
(click on the blogger's name to be taken to their blog - this will be updated)
Franki Sibberson
Travis Jonker
