Summer Professional Development #5-Edcamp STEAM

On Wednesday, July 31, 2013 I attended Edcamp STEAM at Linwood Middle School in North Brunswick. It was my 1st Edcamp experience and I LOVED IT!! I went with a childhood friend and now a colleague, Jessica. It was her first Edcamp also. We got interviewed by Classroom Closeup. Who knows, we may end up in an episode!!! =) The first hour or so was spent networking with fellow educators and setting up the session board. At Edcamps, the participants create the sessions. I decided I would host one. I chose the 4th time slot. I titled the session: "Tracking Evidence & STEAM-How do we effectively track this?" It was a good chance to meet other educators and have a great discussion on assessment and tracking evidence with all of the different curricula in our schools.

The first session we went to was about how to incorporate STEM/STEAM into the Elementary Classroom. It was good. We met a lot of teachers who teach at all girl private schools. It was interesting to see and learn about the different kind of programs there are to help introduce engineering to the elementary grades. The second session we went to was about creating a STEAMy Classroom Environment. Classroom management and classroom design is a HUGE passion of mine. It's hard as a new teacher to say what works and what doesn't because I haven't had a classroom of my own, yet. One day I will and the tips I heard will come in handy.

After lunch we went to one session about using New Media in the classroom. When it wasn't what we expected it to be, we left and went to a session about Flipping the Classroom. We learned a lot of different ways in which to do this. Then came my session. I LOVED IT! We had a really great discussion on portfolios and getting children involved in what is assessed and what is not. After that we went to see if we won anything. Jess got a copy of the Inspiration software. I didn't get anything, but we did network with some awesome educators. I think the best part of the day was getting a tweet from a principal of a school in Manville. He said it was great to meet us and he would be lucky to work with us one day. =)

Overall, it was a great experience. I can't wait for Edcamp Leadership on 8/12 and for Edcamp NJ on 11/23!