Week 9 Reflection

This week, we explored EdCamp. I had never heard of this concept before and even after watching the pre-class videos I was feeling a bit skeptical about the idea of “unconferences.” How is effective learning supposed to happen in such an unstructured way with such little planning? I was pleasantly surprised though when my EdCamp group had a meaningful and productive hour-long conversation about incorporating outdoor learning in diverse subject areas. Liz was our “chair” and prompted some really great discussion about challenges associated with outdoor learning, how it can be incorporated into humanities-based classes, and how to approach outdoor learning for different ages and grade levels. It was great to hear from a wide variety of teacher candidates sharing their personal experiences with outdoor learning in their own subject area and also providing ideas for colleagues in other areas. I liked noticing that despite all going through the same program, everyone’s experiences and takeaways are different enough to allow for really meaningful co-teaching. Hearing from other EdCamp groups, it sounded like everyone else had pretty good success as well in their discussions. Had I not experienced an EdCamp firsthand in this class, I’d most likely continue to be skeptical of them going forward.