Saturday, May 5, 2012

#educampdunners MAGIC

The MAGIC of #educampdunners began when Caroline, from Oamaru, arrived at my school yesterday morning.  We spent the day together chatting and sharing, eagerly anticipating educamp.  The MAGIC ramped up when Tania and Victoria arrived and we headed into St Clair school for a quick reconnaissance then off out to STARFISH for pre-unconference dinner! Stimulating conversation, sensational food, good times....
A quick walk along the St Clair Esplanade back to the car saw an opportunity to share Geocaching.  Two 'finds' later and we have two newbie cachers hooked.  As Caroline, Tania, Victoria and I were heading over the hill to Mosgiel we noticed the early hour and took a right turn into the CBD for an adventure, and a Geocache or two... 


The conversation and the MAGIC continued with a little bit of Jazz at Carousel.

Followed by another very successful caching session in and around the Octagon.  Coffee and dessert at Nova rounded off our day... pre-educampdunners...

And so dawned the day - 5 May 2012 #educampdunners.  With 29 of us gathered at St Clair school, the MAGIC of the day began with coffee, conversation, connections and re-connections..

Pure MAGIC to have educators from primary, secondary, and library; Tauranga (virtual chocolate fish to Pascale @phpnz from Tauranga for furtherest travelled), Christchurch, Darfield, Oamaru, Milton, Lawrence,   Invercargill, Dunedin and Mosgiel...

Powerful conversaton continued upstairs in Te Manawanui, with a World CAFE.  Three questions to ponder, discuss, share... 
  • Why are you here?  
  • What are your current successes? 
  • What are your current challenges???





Thanks to the inspiration of the MAGIC folks at #ignition, we followed this up with the 3 concepts or words to describe us, followed by our name as introductions.  Off downstairs for the SMACKDOWN and moving into various discussion groups - ipads, apps, daily5, CAFE, BYOD, mobile learning... 



Followed by yet another little bit of MAGIC for #educampdunners2012 shared onsite lunch!  Almost too good to be true - all gathered together, sharing food, conversations continuing....


As lunch was digesting we shared the pure MAGIC of speed-geeking, reflecting on, clarifying and sharing our tangible takeaways!


Hot on the heels of our speed geeking session was the MAGIC of connecting with our fellow educators at #educamptt The serendipity of two educamps at extreme ends of NZ could not pass without a connection.  This bought back such MAGICAL memories for me of my first educamp experience!  http://annekcam.blogspot.co.nz/2011/07/educamp-tai-tokerau.html  

Continuing the MAGIC, a further two discussion sessions... google docs, apps, my portfolio, Twitter and learning spaces...  Great to welcome so many newbies to the Twitisphere.... 
The conversations continued as we reflected on the MAGIC of the day...


What then, is the pure MAGIC of educamp?
Undoubtedly - it is the people, he tangata, he tangata, he tangata!
29 educators gathered from around New Zealand, across sectors... gathered to share, network, learn, inspire...
The MAGIC lies in the 'wisdom in the room' philosophy, the conversations are led, facilitated, inspired by passionate educators.... The MAGIC lies in the 'rule of two feet' - if you find yourself in a session that is not 'right' for you, move onto a session that is a better fit.  The MAGIC lies in the inspiration of spending time with like-minded educators... The MAGIC lies in the collaboration, the sharing the networking.  The MAGIC lies in the passion and power of sharing.  

Thanks to all involved in what really was a MAGIC day in a stimulating learning environment.  

I arrived home from a MAGICal day, to the serendipity of my postcard arriving in the mail from #ignition2012.  All thanks to Mark Osborne and the team at Albany Senior High for the MAGIC of #ignition and the sheer serendipity of this arriving today... Quite a profound co-incidence... or pure MAGIC - you decide....



I would love to hear what others feel is the MAGIC of the #educamp model....

4 comments:

  1. What a fabulous day/s Anne so sorry I couldn't make it. Must get educamp WLG off the ground.

    Stephanie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Steph, Yes indeed - truly MAGICAL! As you can see, I took a lot of inspiration from #ignition2012 with lots of #educampdunners today. Truly inspired and overwhelmed by the power of sharing... Keep my posted on #educampwelly.... We are currently dreaming, envisioning the road trip to #educampchch....
      :)
      Anne K

      Delete
  2. Thank you for telling the story of the day. It is only my 2nd time at Educamp and I am glad I could meet you all in your 'hood! So much to take away, think about and share back in some way or form! My goal is to take the "Educamp" un-format to frame the upcoming "French Teachers Day" in July 5th and I hope to plant a seed of change in this community that we will all grow together. Thanks for your guiding notes. Magique, as the French say!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Pascale, what a MAGICAL day! I love that you enjoyed your virtual chocolate fish! Thanks for all that you added to our day. Oh the power of conversation... I am inspired and motivated anew... I can't wait to hear all about 'French Teacher's Day'. I hope you have some MAGICAL plans for Dunedin tomorrow....
      AK

      Delete