Educators across the district participated in our first pre-K-12 Ed Camp Day on Friday, March 9th. The event was a great success, so we look to use this district-wide model in the future. The basic premise of Ed Camp is that teachers teach each other in a wide variety of educational topics organized around a broad educational principle. Educators are free to sign up for the workshops that interest them so long as space permits. The program is launched in the late fall with a survey of faculty interests so that the offerings meet educator needs and priorities.
This year's program was entitled "A Learner's Odyssey" and featured 111 speaker-presenters, including 5 student presentations, over 80 different sessions. Each educator could participate in four 50-minute workshops ranging from teaching and learning strategies; meeting students' social and emotional needs; understanding diverse students, including the Hanscom experience, which featured a field trip to the base; educating boys; strategies for assessing writing; oral storytelling; and engaging in difficult conversation with adults. The final session of the day offered wellness options, including yoga, print-making, and trivia.
The day began with a keynote speech by Audrey Jackson, a fifth grade teacher at the Joseph P. Manning Elementary School in Jamaica Plain, and 2016 Massachusetts Teacher of the Year. Ms. Jackson inspired faculty and staff with her experience and wisdom, including video clips from her fifth grade class. She integrates social-emotional with academic learning to foster an environment that works for all her students. She described the process as differentiating for accessibility and engagement. All her students are working toward the same standards but from different starting places as she helps them to develop both self-awareness and social awareness.
Here are a few follow-up survey comments from educators:
The day was a confirmation of the high level of professionalism, dedication and enthusiasm for teaching and providing a great education for all Bedford students.
Guest speaker was super motivating. Differentiating session provided great resources such as the pyramid model for "all students will be able to; most students will be able to; and some students" for easy use. The day had good energy.
I have two concrete ideas that I want to implement in my classroom. There is a new app I want to try for some lessons, and I am thinking hard about how I want to change how I lecture and give notes.
I have new tools and ideas to add to my classroom. And the guest speaker helped me feel good about the way my classroom is currently operating.
