Ed Camp

This week we practiced Ed Camps in class. EdCamps are free events for educators and similar to Professional Development Day’s, however, there is no seminar leader. Instead, EdCamps have many different ‘programs’ or topics to choose from, which occur all day long where educators go to one that interests them, and they share stories, knowledge, concerns, etc., with other educators who are also interested in discussing that topic. Educators can also move around to other topics as they please and feel are best suited for them.

There were about 5 different topics to choose from in our class. I chose to attend the following 3 EdCamps: Mental Health & Well-Being, Classroom Management, and ELL Learners.

Mental Health & Well-Being

In this EdCamp, we talked about the importance of raising awareness of mental health, especially for those younger kids because they may not fully understand their feelings and how to handle these feelings. We talked a lot about stress, anxiety, and depression and mentioned how we should educate these kids to understand what each of these mental health factors may look like and how people should not go throwing around the word depression and using it lightly. We also discussed the importance of checking in with our students and also just talking about what good mental health looks like, therefore students are not just constantly hearing the negatives of mental health, but also how to promote positive mental health within.

Classroom Management

This was my favourite EdCamp discussion. In this discussion, we were able to talk with our teacher about how she manages her classroom. It was super nice to get insight from a teacher and also to be able to ask a teacher how to handle certain situations, such as when children do not want to be in the classroom, or do their work, or are disrespectful to other students/teachers. I felt like I had a million questions to ask because as a future educator, I want to create relationships with my students while still having that mutual respect between myself and my students. We also talked about how our curriculum is changing and so different from when we were in elementary school, and how to set ourselves up for success while adjusting to a teaching style/curriculum we may not be used to.

ELL Learners

In this EdCamp, we discussed how English Language Learners can really struggle in the classroom and it can be difficult because as future educators, we want all of our students to succeed, however, we do not always have the funding to give the support these students need. We struggled to come up with a plan on how to help our ELL students while also not letting it interfere with the rest of the classes’ learning. One of the best ideas we could think of is providing various levels of work. This would allow all students to choose which best suits them. We also discussed how we would be transparent with our class while still respecting all our students and just explaining how all leaners vary and may need different support because we all have strengths and weaknesses.

Overall, I found EdCamps extremely helpful and I enjoyed doing them and being able to gain insight from my peers and teacher on their experiences and what they recommend. I also just loved how I felt that we were all there to support each other and felt that I could always them for help and advice because they understand the struggles that can come with working in the education system. I would love to do another EdCamp class sometime this semester and I will definitely do them throughout my future teaching career!