It’s not as though I’m a stranger to conferences. I’ve attended plenty of teacher conferences over the years. I’ve attended conferences with groups of teachers from my school and I’ve attended them by myself. I’ve attended awesome conferences, where I’ve come home brimming with ideas and energized to teach again. I’ve also attended some conferences that did not live up to my expectations. With all my conference-going experience, I shouldn’t be nervous. Yet my stomach is doing flip-flops just at the thought of attending Bloggy Boot Camp on Saturday!
1. Lingo
Education lingo is not foreign to me. Throw out words like inclusion, differentiation, and Bloom’s Taxonomy at me, and I know exactly what you are talking about. Not only that, but I know how to incorporate these educational practices into my classroom. I left the educational field for a few years when Lily was born, but I know I will be able to pick up the new educational lingo when I go back to teaching.
Now, blogging lingo. Or perhaps more accurately, social media lingo. I just can’t keep up! There is so much out there that I could utilize in my blogging. I’m hoping to learn a lot at Bloggy Boot Camp, but then what if I can’t incorporate what I learn into my blogging? Flop-flips!
2. Networking/Socialization
During teacher conferences, most teachers focus on taking notes, talking to their colleagues and getting those all important CPDU’s (more teacher lingo). Networking is rare unless you want to start up pen pals, or the more technological Skyping between kids in your classrooms. Sometimes you break into focus groups to share ideas, but names and contact information are generally not shared.
Blogging conferences, however, are all about getting yourself out there and socializing with your fellow bloggers. Walking into a room full of strangers and having to TALK TO THEM intimidates me! What if other bloggers have no idea who I am? Or what if they have read my blog and *ahem* don’t like it? Flip-flops!
The other night, as I was talking to Ed about my blogging conference fears, I felt like Al Franken’s character Stuart Smiley. I told Ed I shouldn’t be nervous; after all, I can talk to people. People do like talking to me.
3. Attire
My friends and I were not in the group of teachers we call “apple baggers.” These teachers carry their notebooks around in a bag covered with apples and teacher sayings and little chalkboards. I own several of these bags, but I preferred carrying around my sturdy green canvas briefcase. Apple baggers also wore teacher themed tee shirts or sweaters with denim skirts and chunky, wooden apple necklaces. My preferred attire was jeans and a comfy sweatshirt.
Are jeans even an option at a blogging conference? FLOP-FLIPS!
So there you go. All Most of my blogging conference neuroses wrapped up for you in one blog post. I’ll let you know how it goes!
P.S. Are you going to Bloggy Boot Camp? Did you write a pre-BBC post? I’d love to read it–please leave a link in the comments!
