# IMetALotOfTwitterEDUPeopleIFollowInRealLifeAndItWasAmazing
I first heard of EdCamp through Twitter in 2017. . . after it happened. I saw all the tweets about it and thought, how did I miss this? So, this year I made sure I kept an eye out for the information. I actually got so excited that, I accidently registered early . . . it was still the 2017 link.
What were my goals going into #EdCampOttawa 2018?
My main goal was simple: connect with other educators. For the first few years of my teaching career, I was a guest teacher ("substitute teacher") and I jumped around multiple schools. Which meant, I got to meet a lot of other educators, observe practices, check out technology that they were using, resources they've implemented, etc. But for the past 2 years, I've been in the same school for the whole school year. And don't get me wrong, I've learned a lot from my colleagues that I shared a school location with. And Twitter also provides that connection with other educators that I may not necessarily get to chat with. But EdCamp was something different...it was putting a face to those Twitter posts, connecting in-person, sharing ideas and having great discussions.
Hello, my name is . . .
I arrived at EdCamp, signed in, and sat at a table as everyone began to arrive and chat until the day began. My goal of connecting with other educators had begun, as we began to introduce ourselves in small conversations. I caught myself quite a bit semi-staring at people thinking "ok, I'm pretty sure I've interacted with this person on twitter . . . or maybe we've met before . . . ". So many connections happened! This is also where I'll throw a shout-out to someone I've connected with on Twitter many times, but finally got to meet in person: @sarahlalondee. It was a great surprise and I was so happy to finally have met her! If you don't follow her, do it!
I first heard of EdCamp through Twitter in 2017. . . after it happened. I saw all the tweets about it and thought, how did I miss this? So, this year I made sure I kept an eye out for the information. I actually got so excited that, I accidently registered early . . . it was still the 2017 link.
What were my goals going into #EdCampOttawa 2018?
My main goal was simple: connect with other educators. For the first few years of my teaching career, I was a guest teacher ("substitute teacher") and I jumped around multiple schools. Which meant, I got to meet a lot of other educators, observe practices, check out technology that they were using, resources they've implemented, etc. But for the past 2 years, I've been in the same school for the whole school year. And don't get me wrong, I've learned a lot from my colleagues that I shared a school location with. And Twitter also provides that connection with other educators that I may not necessarily get to chat with. But EdCamp was something different...it was putting a face to those Twitter posts, connecting in-person, sharing ideas and having great discussions.
Hello, my name is . . .
I arrived at EdCamp, signed in, and sat at a table as everyone began to arrive and chat until the day began. My goal of connecting with other educators had begun, as we began to introduce ourselves in small conversations. I caught myself quite a bit semi-staring at people thinking "ok, I'm pretty sure I've interacted with this person on twitter . . . or maybe we've met before . . . ". So many connections happened! This is also where I'll throw a shout-out to someone I've connected with on Twitter many times, but finally got to meet in person: @sarahlalondee. It was a great surprise and I was so happy to finally have met her! If you don't follow her, do it!
The Sessions - Share & Learn.
The session topics are chosen by the educators, through a board with sticky notes. You add some topics, move some around, and then you get this:
I mostly watched, as the topic I had a goal to discuss with other educators (math) was already up on the board so I noted that right away. No single session has a specific "presenter", as everyone who is interested in discussing the topic joins in. But, if you did have some knowledge in an area and wanted to share, you could join that discussion session as well. And, the rule always applied: if you don't think the session you chose if for you (or the discussion has changed to a new topic), you can simply leave and attend a different one. You offend no one, because, well, there is no presenter, no speaker. As Laura Wheeler (co-organizer of #EdCampOttawa) put it, "I assume when you get up and leave before a session is over, it's because there are so many sessions you want to attend that you have to leave and go to another one". And it's true! There were so many great topics and sessions to attend. (scroll to the bottom of this blog post to see some links to some of the learning notes I took)
So, how was #EdCampOttawa?
It was great! Between the connecting, conversations, resource sharing, and everything in-between, the day flew by and I left inspired! I left with a full page of math resources and notes of rich conversations, which was one of the topics I wanted to learn more about from others. I had discussions with other educators who also struggle with balance & self-care, and strategies we can use to do better in these areas. I shared a resource, how I went to digital day planning (@planboard, go check it out!).
I'm already excited for next year . . . too soon? Until then, I continue my learning through reading, conversations, twitter, and much more.
I finish with this.
If you're reading this and you've never been to an EdCamp before, find one and go!
If your city doesn't have one, start one!
And, if you don't have Twitter . . . join!
As they told us at #EdCampOttawa...
Twitter is basically EdCamp, just everyday.
If you are interested in seeing the EdCamp learning shared on Twitter, check out #EdCampOttawa.
Click this link to see the resources we shared & discussed in our "Math in primary/junior" session: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KVpuSgWdOja2yPWX6NVgWOvGEsCY-6mExrCYMWSkuRo/mobilebasic
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