![\"Image](\"https:\/\/educatorinnovator.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/4321431858_896d7a5307_m.jpg\")
<\/a>Image credit: Rob Rowe<\/p><\/div>\n
We held the first Edcamp<\/a> in Philadelphia in May, 2010. We used social media to send out the word. Then, as is still true, Twitter fueled the start of and growth of this movement. People signed up and even more amazingly, people came from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, fascinated by the idea of free professional development that is driven by the teachers who show up. The educators who had connected through social media now had a chance to meet face-to-face and enhance the relationships that they had already started.<\/p>\n That first morning, we set up the empty session board and wondered what would happen. Would people really come? It was a beautiful May morning. Staying home and enjoying the sunshine rather than making the trip into the city seemed like a real possibility. The questions kept flying between us as we set up the Sign-In table and wrote with chalk on the sidewalk to direct people to the entrance. Who would come? Would anyone want to hold a discussion or pose a question for consideration? What if nothing happened?<\/p>\n And what happened was magic! Educators are truly amazing people, people who care so much and work so hard for the students that they teach. They came and began the conversations, sharing with strangers their ideas and their questions. The session board filled up, and the collaboration began. People tweeted about it and around the country and the world; people began to follow #edcamp! The energy in that place gave birth to a movement that has grown in under five years from a single, initial Edcamp to over 600 events around the world.<\/p>\n Image credit: Kevin Jarrett<\/p><\/div>\n Edcamps became so powerful because they recognize and honor the expertise of teachers. Each Edcamp is organized by educators, for educators. They aren\u2019t professional development based on what someone else says that you need to learn or know, and are truly participant-driven. The sessions continue to be developed on the day of the event, based on the interests and questions of the people who give up their time to learn from and with other educators. There are no Outside Experts; the teachers who show up, working together, are the experts.<\/p>\n The passion of the teachers who come is electric and empowering for all who are there. They are people who believe in doing whatever it takes to make their work in the classroom the best that it can be, bringing the best to their students. They want to grow and believe that they can, that the system and the challenges that they face are not bigger than the power of committed educators working together. While sometimes the conversation is about edtech and new tools that support student learning, in the end it is really about the students. Edcamp educators just care about the kids who show up in their classrooms every day. Taking a Saturday to learn and share is just a piece of what they give every day to make their practice the best that it can be.<\/p>\n The Edcamp Foundation was formed to support and enhance the work of the organizers and participants of the Edcamp movement. In October, 2014, NewSchools Seed Fund gave the Foundation a grant so that we could hire an Executive Director. The Foundation Board asked me to take on the challenge. After decades in the classroom, I decided to go for it. It was an amazing opportunity to support something that I believed in passionately.<\/p>\n<\/a>