Collier County Public Schools held its first-ever, edCamp Collier in February. You may be asking yourself, what is an edCamp? An edCamp is a user-generated conference, commonly referred to as an “un-conference.” These edCamps are specifically designed to provide focused participant-driven professional learning for all educators. The primary focus tends to be on technology and ways to use technology to support instruction. Although topics can be anything from classroom management strategies, to teaching methods to digital projects to just making the topics engaging for students. Over the past three years, there have been over 250 edCamps worldwide.
edCamp Collier was held at Lorenzo Walker Technical College and new teachers, their mentors and District administrators attended the event. Dr. Patton kicked it off by addressing all of the participants. Some of the topics that were discussed during the evening were: how to incorporate Kagan strategies into lessons, differentiation, using student data for planning, and how to use iPads in the classroom setting, among many others! Also highlighted was “how can we use technology in the classroom to increase student engagement and participation in the lesson?”
Also featured during the evening were the culinary delights offered by the student and chefs from Golden Gate High School, Gulf Coast High School, and Lorenzo Walker Technical High School. During the evening, edCamp participants tasted appetizers and desserts crafted by the students and voted for their favorite foods. Culinary arts students from Golden Gate High School and their teacher, Chef Marissa Crisanti, were crowned the 2016 Culinary Team Challenge Team Champions. Congratulations!
