We did it! The first #EdCampArchOmaha is in the books! I am so grateful for the team that helped put this together and the teachers that came today! First, a picture and then the top 8 take-aways about putting together and participating in an edcamp.
#8 Working with a great group of people. I’d like to thank Jim Homan, Sara Hood, Mike Mansour, Terri Preston, and Linda Sweeting You are all true professionals and always have what is best for our students at heart!
#7 Having the support of the EdCamp Foundation. Our edcamp qualified for the “Edcamp-in-a-Box” and we were grateful for the contents of the box and I was personally thankful for a phone call from Kristen Swanson who helped answer my questions and calmed my nerves. Plus a ‘high five’ to the new EdCamp Foundation Executive Director, Hadley Ferguson, for her support!
#6 The Support of the CatholicEdChat-ish and EdCampShare Voxer groups. You may know I love Twitter, but having a friendly voice of a Catholic school teacher and an Edcamp veteran, over Voxer, has been priceless. Being able to ask a quick question and get several answers makes Voxer tops in my book.
#5 Sponsors! What can I say? They are awesome! When you are planning an edcamp, which is free for teachers and organized by teachers who don’t do this for a living, having someone contact you, to give you free SWAG, a product to raffle off, or donuts is amazing! You can see our sponsors here. http://edcamparchomaha.weebly.com/sponsors.html Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
#4 Google! Yes, I am a Google Fan Girl and I don’t believe our Edcamp would not have been as successful as it was without it. From making a survey with Google Forms, to hosting all the notes from the sessions, it really made our day run smoothly.
#3 People travel from far away to learn at #edcampArchOmaha. Who would have thought that 2 teachers from the Salt Lake City diocese would travel to learn with us?! They wanted to see an edcamp in action to bring it back to their teachers. This made me so happy!
#2 Prayer! Our Edcamp had an added feature. We began with a prayer and ended with prayer.
#1 You! The people who came today! I am so grateful for the great conversations that took place today. A special shout out to Josh Allen, one of the founders of EdCampOmaha, for coming today. It was so nice to see his friendly face!
After reading some of the answers from our survey, I believe the day was a huge success! I look forward to seeing you at a future edcamp, online, or in person. Thank you again for taking part of this new type of Professional Development.
Glad I could step out of my public school comfort zone to join everyone. Kudos to you and the organizers. It was a great day!