EdCamp Louisiana 2011

I am excited to report that EdCamp Louisiana 2011 is underway.   EdCamp is an UnConference built around the wishes of its attendees.  The sessions will be catered to what the audience wants to see and hear.  The presenters will be Professional Educators who are knowledgeable about a topic or willing to experiment and learn about the unknown.

So far at team EdCamp Louisiana

• We have a date: July 9, 2011
• We have a venue: University of New Orleans
• We have an evergrowing list of attendees and presenters.
• We are creating flyers for advertising purposes.
• We will soon have a website up and running as well as a Paypal Account to handle donations and sponsorships.

Read this blog post by M.E. Steele-Pierce, Unconference: Revolutionary professional learning for more information about the UnConference concept.  Dr. Steele-Pierce is Assistant Superintendent for Teaching & Learning at West Clermont Schools in Ohio.  Her post defines the concept of EdCamp, the unconference, and its value as a way to disseminate needed (and wanted) information. 

“Allowing our teacher experts to teach one another”

And yes, the Valerie Burton that she refers to as being enthusiastic about the upcoming EdCamp Louisiana is yours truly. 

 I can’t wait for EdCamp Louisiana.  I can see it now… UNO’s campus will be loaded with 250 Professional Educators eager to share and eager to learn about what is going on in our classes. 

They are discussing

• what is working and what isn’t working. 
• ways to collaborate
• ways to integrate technology into classrooms
• ways to revamp boring units with project based learning activities
• a Birds of a Feather style working lunch
• followed by more collaborating and creating

We will not have the attendants sign up for sessions that they really do not want to take just to waste time until they can go to the sessions that they do want.  The goal of the UnConference is to build the agenda around what the participants are interested in learning about.  The UnConference is a series of ‘make and take,’ ‘share, reflect and plan,’ and ‘collaborate’ sessions.  

If you do not leave with new ideas, activities, plans, and friends we have not done our jobs properly.

Thanks to all of those people who helped us make the concept of an UnConference in Louisiana a practical way to provide learning opportunities to our Professional Educators.

• @MBTeach  has a wonderful series of blog posts on Edutopia’s site about EdCamps
• @DanCallahan has provided us with support and assistance
• the BarCamps gave all of us a model to work from

I have created an event on Eventbrite.  Eventbrite allows you to create an online flyer, a widget and e-ticket for your event.  They have many different types of widgets available and you can customize the colors of your  flyer.

Here is my ticket.

 Click here to register for EdCamp Louisiana.  The UnConference is the PD of the future.  It allows teachers to create and deliver Professional Development Sessions that are of interest to them.  It is teacher driven and directed.

P.S. For those of you who have registered,

you really don’t need to bring the ticket.

Hashtag #EdCampLA

 EdCamp Louisiana Organizers

Valerie Burton, M. Ed., High School English Teacher, Jefferson Parish School System

Paula L. Naugle, 4th Grade Teacher, Jefferson Parish Public School System

Tiffany Whitehead, Teacher-Librarian, Central Community School District
Carl Gaines Jr., Computer Science Teacher, Chalmette High School/AP Social Studies Instructor, Louisiana Virtual School
Brian Mull, Director of Innovation, November Learning