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the Lockport Legend | January 17, 2019 | 5
Fairmont Ed Camp puts new twist on teacher institute day
Mary Compton
Freelance Reporter
Fairmont School District
89 Superintendent Diane
Cepela and the Will County
Regional Office of Education
recently teamed up to
organize a day dedicated to
showing local teachers how
to bring excitement to the
classroom.
Ed Camp, held Jan. 7
at Fairmont School, was a
teacher’s institute day that
focused on social and emotional
learning, art, music,
and physical education.
“We always focus on reading,
writing and math,” Cepela
said. “I thought today
can include art, music, PE,
science, and social and emotional
learning.”
To begin the day, Cepela
brought in ultra runner
Adam Kimble to speak to
the participants at Ed Camp.
Kimble spoke about running
and his experience becoming
the winner on Discovery
Channel’s “The Wheel.” His
message to the teachers was
to dream big and follow it
up with preparation and extreme
focus.
Running is a large part of
Cepela’s life, as well. In her
office there are several medals
on a large hook that reads
“She believed she could so
she did.”
Having run four marathons
and 30 half marathons,
Cepela motivates her staff
like a trainer preparing for
a run.
“I want to see how far I
can push myself,” Cepela
said. “It makes me stronger.
My son died three years ago,
[and] running is about honoring
him, Matt Cepela.”
Some area school districts
have one physical education
teacher or one social
studies teacher. Ed Camp
gave them the opportunity
to share thoughts and ideas
with similar teachers from
other districts. The last session
was facilitated by teachers
of Fairmont School.
“Our goal today was not
only to inspire these teachers
but to get them to think out of
their own box,” Cepela said.
“We are a trauma-informed
school. There are events that
happen to some of our children
before they come to our
school everyday.
“One of our big initiatives
here is social and emotional
learning. Some of our students
bring in emotional
baggage that deters them
from learning. We have to
approach those students
differently so that they can
learn.”
Mark Fleming, interim superintendent
of Will County
School District 92, credited
Cepela with organizing a
successful Ed Camp.
“It’s her inspiration that
brought this. That’s why Ed
Camp happened today,” he
said. “One of my favorite
speakers was Adam. Even
though we’re not all runners,
he spoke about taking risks...
We need to be inspiring for
our students.”
Almost 170 teachers from
four school districts took
part in the all-day event.
Some of the sessions they
took part in were: Breakout
EDU, Starlab, Programming
Lego Robots for STEAM,
Teenage Safeland and many
more.
Fairmont physical education
teacher and Lockport
resident Amanda Allison
had one of the most popular
articulation sessions called
DrumFIT. Approximately
20 teachers per session stood
behind exercise balls and
held wooden sticks. They
watched a DrumFIT video
and began drumming to music.
This was part of Next
Generation PE.
“I saw DrumFIT at the
Teachers (left to right) Linda Perez from Richland School
District, Kristi Szumfrom from Minooka and Ruth Dietrich
from Richland School District collaborate Jan. 7 during Ed
Camp, a teacher’s institute day held at Fairmont School.
Mary Compton/22nd Century Media
Illinois IAHPERD convention,”
Allison explained.
“This program is music and
PE all in one. It’s a great
cardio workout. I use videos.
For my students I’ll use
teacher-led songs or students
will make up routines. The
best part is the students don’t
even know they’re moving.”
For two years, students
at Fairmont school have
had physical education that
includes DrumFIT, but Ed
Camp gave some area teachers
their first exposure to it.
“Today is a great day to
collaborate with other teachers
in other districts,” Allison
said. “We don’t often get
the chance because we’re all
teaching at the same time.”
Tasha Ohotzke, a thirdgrade
teacher at Homer
School District 33C, was another
discussion leader at Ed
Camp. She has taught for 17
years in Homer Glen.
“I had two presentations
today,” Ohotzke said. “In the
first session, I did Seesaw
and Flipgrid Fever, which
is geared to kindergarten
through 12th grade. These
are some of the best ed-tech
tools out there... It transforms
student learning. It’s
so different today with the
technology the way it is at
the students at their fingertips.”
Seesaw enables students
of any age to create and
share work. Teachers and
parents are able to keep track
of their child’s learning and
easily communicate between
school and home using the
program. Flipgrid is a video
tool that allows students to
connect with other classrooms.
“We connected with a
classroom in New Jersey,”
Ohotzke said. “All the students
were creating video
messages [and] bonding
with one another. The critical
thinking that took place
was amazing.”
Cepela’s excitement for
education rubs off on the
students. On a day off, half
of the eighth-grade students
came to school to help the
teachers who attended Ed
Camp.
One of the students who
was happy to volunteer was
Alonso Herrera, an eighthgrader
from Lockport.
“I’m here to meet and
help out the teachers,” Herrera
said. ”I like helping the
teachers.”
Cepela said she believes
each of her students have
gifts and talents. Two more
eighth-grade students were
happy to share their day of
volunteering and experience
at Fairmont school.
Sharmoni Gee was happy
to be at school on her day off
to help the teachers who attended
Ed Camp.
“I think teachers should
keep their class exciting so
that students want to learn
[and] their minds will stay
focused on school,” she said.
Please see ed camp, 12