Photo by @oneelevenimages
The first question I usually receive from prospective ntcamp attendees is, “Is this a conference exclusive to new teachers?” The answer is no. Initially ntcamp set out to promote new teachers and help them discover their personal learning networks and the opportunities in education via social media. While this mission still holds, ntcamp is evolving.
For the past year, ntcamp has been working with new teachers, colleges, universities, and school districts to assist new teacher development and build strong, vast personal learning networks for all teachers. Our primary objective is to blend experienced teachers with new and pre-service teachers in a free, one-day unconference. The unconference model allows anyone to present and is participatory driven. We hope to provide and strengthen new and experienced teachers in the areas of professional development, personal learning networks, and best practices.
To date, we have one successful conference under our belt. This summer we held the inaugural ntcamp 2010: Philadelphia. We had over one hundred participants attend in person and virtually. Riding the success of ntcamp 2010, we will be hosting two dates in 2011: ntcamp 2011: Burlington on February 26, 2011 and ntcamp 2011: Philadelphia on July 30, 2011. We are committed to building on these accomplishments to improve the quality of education for teachers and students.
In 2011, ntcamp hopes to continue to grow our message throughout the country and bring in many new faces to our conference. We constantly strive to evolve and provoke the educational dialogue while exchanging best practices in a collegial setting. This conference is not simply a technology conference, but a conference that will promote best practices that use technology blended with non-technology teaching methods.
ntcamp 2011 will be promoting a new campaign along with the two unconferences in Burlington, MA on February 26, 2011 and in Philadelphia, PA on July 30, 2011. The new venture of ntcamp is a simple slogan that all teachers should come to recognize, “I’m Green”.
The “I’m Green” campaign will promote the idea that no matter the level of expertise or years in the classroom all educators should approach every new school year as an opportunity to learn, grow, and evolve their classroom practice. This is not to say that ntcamp is a technology conference, but a conference that promotes best practices with both chalk and tech. ntcamp is a professional environment that encourages conversations, debate, and sharing and allows everyone to have a voice.
You can access an “I’m Green” badge by clicking here and register to attend on our site
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