Edcamp Seacoast Notes

Teachers at #edcampseacoast discussing collaboration.

On Saturday I drove up to the Portsmouth Middle School to attend #edcampseacoast.  Edcamps are vibrant, educator-driven professional development events where teachers, administrators, school committee members and community members share ideas, strategies and knowledge to better teach and run schools.

The day started with a wonderful continental breakfast donated by local businesses and an introduction to the #edcamp.  After that I shared Animoto, a simple and effective movie making tool with a group of educators.  Then I attended a session led by Tracy Sockalosky, a Natick Middle School teacher about prepping students for tech world they live and learn in.  We had a great lunch donated from the Upper Crust Pizza in  Portsmouth, and after that it was learning focused on media literacy led by a New Hampshire Public Television Professional and sharing ideas and practice led by Dan Callahan from Burlington, MA.

If you’re looking for inexpensive, differentiated pd, I suggest you try an edcamp—here’s a list of edcamps coming up: http://edcamp.wikispaces.com/

Other great links for the day included the following:

• Resources for global education
• soundgecko for struggling readers--will read the text for students.
• WritePad: great note taking software that can be synced with Google, other sites.
• Great resource for open source content.
• Typing web identified as good, free keyboarding website.
• Cinefy: Great way to add effects to video.
• Media Literacy Resources: Student will learn with multiple media sources and it’s important that they learn to have a critical eye with regard to those resources.
• Framework
• Literacy Research Association

One highlight of the day was that two friends from my childhood, Maureen Caramello and Nancy Scally, teachers in Worcester, MA, joined me for their first #edcamp experience.  I know it won't be their last as they both mentioned how wonderful it was to share a day of learning with thoughtful, invested educators. 

Thanks to all the Portsmouth area educators and volunteers who made this wonderful day of learning happen.  

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