Teaching is a Team Sport

Teaching is a team sport. I think that, sometimes, we forget this. We have a lot on our plates, our students and our families and our friends and... I don't need to list it - if you teach, you understand. We work in a team that includes our administration, our custodial staff, our aids, our students' parents, sometimes our own parents, and so on. This week, I want to focus on my fellow teachers as team members.

Last year, I somehow was wrestled into helping Autumn Zaminski set up the first Adams County EdCamp. I have a sneaking suspicion that one of my fellow ELA teachers in crime, Melissa-Ann Pero, brought my name up. (I owe her.) It was my first time really learning the ropes of setting up an unconference, and I was gloriously impressed by the bold simplicity of it. That's why I helped when I could again this year. The work is really in the organizing of donations and food, extra speakers, manpower and space. If you're a planner and organizer (like Autumn) and you can rally a team of great people (see pictured), you can organize an EdCamp.

The conference takes care of itself when it starts because... Teaching is a team sport. Every participant shows up knowing they have something to learn and something to contribute (and maybe a chance to win an iPad).

If you've never experienced an EdCamp, this particular video (which we shared at our EdCamp on Saturday) is a great explanation of how it works:

And you can find EdCamps near you at the official EdCamp website.

This year and last, I manned the twitter feed while the conference was going on. It may have seemed a little anti-social of me at some points with my head in my phone, but at times the feed may not have been as active with idea sharing and images because I may have been discussing Google Add-Ons, Extensions, and the Google Classroom Update... or maybe listening in on what Ross Cooper had to say as he video conferenced with the PBL group... or overhearing what CJ Reynolds had to say about using social media, but it was great seeing everyone collaborating and taking pictures of people and discussions. If you're having an event, assign a social media person or team to interact, engage, and document what happens. For example, Dr. Sam Fecich couldn't be at the EdCamp, but she was interacting with our twitter feed. It is a great way to add another dimension to any conference you hold. (Additionally, create hashtags before you begin and share them so others can chime in an create a sort of 'backchannel' of chatter.) Our team wasn't just there in person - it included digital team members. If you'd like some additional ideas on how to utilize twitter while presenting or hosting a conference, Twitter has it covered here.

I can't begin to name everyone who was part of the EdCamp team - from the folks who banded together for organization to setup to folks who attended and contributed, but EdCamp is really a representation of what teaching is supposed to be about. Teaching is a team sport.