NerdCampMI Reflections

Looking at my calendar for this summer there were two dates that jumped out at me every time I glanced at it; NerdCamp was being held on July 7^th and 8^th. The excitement raced through me when I thought about it. Last year was the first NerdCamp. I had been amazed by the sessions then. This year the organizers had added another day; an afternoon filled with scheduled presenters. Also added were a Nerd Run and a NerdCamp Junior on the evening of the 8^th. I wondered if it would still be as memorable as last year. It was even more so.

Monday dawned and my nervousness was reaching epic proportions. Suzanne Gibbs had created the schedule for Day One. She kindly asked if I would present, to which I agreed. What Suzanne didn’t know was that public speaking makes my heart race, my face heat up, and leaves me feeling that I might be sick at any moment. Over the last few years these feelings have lessened, somewhat, but it still isn’t great. I knew NerdCamp would be filled with smart educators and I was worried. I shouldn’t have been.

Teachers waiting for me to begin.
Yikes!!

From the moment I entered the high school on day one, I was pumped. Colby, Alaina, Suzanne, and more had worked so hard – and it showed. Suzanne quickly brought me to the room I would be presenting. She even gave me a laptop cord because I forgot mine at home. Teachers started entering my room an hour early to get a seat. I was sure they were in the wrong room. One glanced at my phone made me start to shake. I was looking for a text from my son, but I saw tweets from people in the room that they were excited to hear me speak. Mind blown.

What followed were two of the most enjoyable sessions I have ever had the honor of leading. The attendees at NerdCamp were so positive, kind, and gave tons of great feedback. By the end, I was almost in tears, I was so grateful for these educators. (If you'd like to see my slides, you can find them HERE.)

Since I was presenting on Monday, I didn’t get the chance to attend other sessions beyond the ending Keynote, given by Donalyn Miller. What I love about seeing Donalyn speak is her clear message – we are the lead readers in our classrooms. We need to reflect on our reading lives and share those lessons with our students. It isn’t about Lexile levels, AR points, incentives, or comprehension tests. We are creating a community of readers.

Monday wrapped up with a Nerd Run – a 5K Alaina Sharp organized. I was part of #teamsaunter – we had no plans on running, but thought we’d walk and chat through the course. As we traveled the first mile we were joined by two participants that were dressed as Cassia from Matched and Katniss from The Hunger Games. For reasons I won’t divulge, #teamsaunter became #teamshortcut. By the end of the race, I was crying from laughing so hard.

#teamsaunter

Tuesday dawned and the true “EdCamp” format began. I love watching the schedule come together. If you haven’t been to an EdCamp before, the schedule is blank at the start of the day. Here, they have two sessions to schedule for and about 6-7 openings during each session. Amazingly, once the floor was open, people started coming forward to volunteer to lead a variety of sessions. I presented with Donalyn for the first session on the best books of 2014 so far, and it was awesome. She and I both shared some of our favorite titles and then the audience began sharing their favorites. I think this quote is from David Weinberger, “…the smartest person in the room is the room.” EdCamps (and NerdCamp) embrace this philosophy. You might be “leading” a presentation, but really you are all learning from each other. I love this.

After session one, I went to a session led by Karen Terlecky and Katie Muhtaris about authentic use of technology in the classroom. I learned so much from these ladies – and from the other educators in the room.

After a quick lunch break it was time to create the afternoon schedule. I attended a session led by a soon to be third grader and some teachers sharing the importance of read alouds. Loved that this kiddo felt empowered enough to present to a group of adults. During this session I read a tweet from someone at NerdCamp asking if I’d lead a session on Evernote. (They had tweeted earlier and I hadn’t seen it.) The great thing about NerdCamp is that just because a session isn’t scheduled isn’t a problem. I immediately tweeted out that I was going to meet in the commons for a pop-up session during session four. I asked Karen and Katie to come help and we ended up with a group of about thirty teachers all learning about Evernote and Google Drive. I love that while we were supposedly the “leaders,” I walked away with as much new insights as they did.

NerdCamp ended with participates coming up to the stage in the auditorium and sharing what they had learned from the last day and a half. I was moved by their stories, from tweets I read, from discussions I shared, and more. What an amazing two days.

Below are links to the NerdCamp notes from each session AND other blog posts written about this amazing day. I will continue to add links as they are sent in. If you are interested in attending next year, it will be held on July 6^th and 7^th in Parma, Michigan and the registration is, as always, free.

Glad to help run the Nerdy Book Club with these crazy folks. 

Links (Click below. Note, I've grabbed as many as I can find. If you'd like yours added, tweet me at @katsok or post in the comments. Thanks!):

Google Doc of Notes

Newspaper article about NerdCamp

Katie Muhtaris's amazing notes on Padlet

Sara Ralph's Blog Post

Michele Knott's Blog Post

Ms. Cole's Blog Post

Lea Kelley's Blog Post

Kendra Limback's Blog Post

Franki Sibberson and Mary Lee Hahn's Live Blog Post

Ann King's Blog Post

Beth Shaum's Blog Post

Katie Muhtaris's Blog Post

Annie Orsini's Blog Posts HERE and HERE

Travis Jonker's Blog Post

Michelle Simpson's Blog Post

Laura Komos's Blog Post

Jaana's Blog Post 

Cheryl Mizerny's Blog Post

Jen Vincent's Blog Post

Niki Ohs Barnes

Ryan Hanna's Blog Post

nErDcamp Round-up

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

We broke for lunch and then brainstormed the sessions for the afternoon. Again, the energy rocked. I ended up agreeing to led two sessions – one with Jerzy Drozd and Laurie Keller on Graphic Novels: A Pathway to Learning. The other session was with Cindy Minnich and Donalyn Miller entitled Nerdy Book Club Needs YOU.

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.

If you couldn’t attend, the link to the doc showing the sessions is here:

Google Doc

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

Holly Mueller
Stephanie Shouldis

Michele Corbat
Crystal Brunelle
Jen Vincent
Niki Ohs Barnes
Colby Sharp