Tuesday, February 7, 2017

OCCUE Techfest 2017


Here is my slide deck for my first conference presentation.  I wanted to do something for those of us that already use Google Classroom.  We don't need to know the basics, but it would be awesome if we could learn some tips and tricks to maximize its usage, right?  This is a live document and I will be adding to it.

The room was pretty packed, so I think I hit on a need that some of this conferences often lack.



If you have any tips or tricks that you would like to share for Google Classroom, please leave a comment.  If you would like me to include it the next time I present on Google Classroom, let me know and I'll give you proper credit.

I also went to three other sessions besides my own.

The first one on an app for the tablets called Argubot Academy by GlassLabs.  It combines gameplay with teaching kids how to discover and identify the correct type of evidence to support their arguments.  Despite the fact it's geared towards middle schoolers, I think my students could find it fun and useful.  I won't really be looking into it any further until it's available on the Chromebook, which is something that they are apparently working on according the to presenter (Laura Compton).

The second was about the classroom management app ClassDojo.  I once signed up for a few years ago, but it seemed a little too elementary school for my students, and maybe it still is in regards to the aesthetic of the icons for the kids.  But, I might give it a try next year.  It had a lot to offer in keeping track of specific behaviors and assigning specific points for those behaviors.  It might do the kids and I well to have certain behaviors be worth more and subtract more for their participation grade.  I particularly liked the suggestion by the presenter, Tracy Edmisten, to use a zero point value to keep track of the number of times a student goes to the restroom.

The last session I went to was about using Hamilton in the classroom.  The biggest takeaway I got from that was finding out about the site Genius.  It's a site where people can read up on annotations about lines in a song, or even add some themselves.  The annotations seem to be really thorough.




2 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for sharing this. I look forward to passing the information onto others! Excellent resource!

    ReplyDelete