EdCampSTL is a form of teacher professional development and this year the conference was held at Pattonville High School on Saturday, Feb. 7.
“The idea of an EdCamp is for teachers to be able to create their own conversations based on what they want to learn and collaborate and share ideas with other teachers,” organizer and Pattonville teacher Ms. Katherine Korte said.
Mr. Rob Lamb and Mr. Steven Shaw were also both organizers from Pattonville that worked on this year’s EdCamp.
Instead of having a normal conference where sessions are pre-determined and provide keynote speakers, EdCamp is an “un-conference” where the sessions are not planned out in advance and are only decided on the day of the conference.
“The teachers decide which sessions they want to lead or attend when they get there,” Korte said.
After the opening ceremony, the more than 800 attendees were served breakfast and walked around the cafeteria writing down session titles and choosing which room they would like to go to during the four offered breakout times.
Something new this year at EdCampSTL that wasn’t offered in the past was a student-led session.
“The students told teachers what they wanted their education to look like and their struggles that they faced with during school,” Korte said. “They talked about what they feel teachers could improve upon.”