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.

Read Report Beginning of February 2016

Going through the voluminous blog and article posts filling up my neglected Feedly, these are the ed tech ones that I felt were worth sharing.

Jennifer Gonzales over at Cult of Pedagogy blogged about 6 Ed Tech Tools to Try in 2016.

She mentioned some that were unsurprising, like Formative.  I really want to look more into this one, but with everything on my plate the thought is a little too daunting for this school year.

One I'm going to try for sure, in fact right now, is Noisli.  Noisli is a white noise app.  Currently, I've just added a crackling fire to listen to since I have the sounds of rain from an actual storm outside.  It's making me feel just a bit more toasty.  I can see playing this is class to help students focus, or allowing students to listen to it instead of music they spend too much time picking in order to help them focus and be productive.

Another that sparked my interest was Write About.  Jennifer writes that Write about "provid[es] students with an online space to write on high-interest topics and get feedback from their peers".  The other things she mentions, like a collection of writing ideas and voice recordings, intrigue me.  But --yup, I have a but--the free version only allows for 40 students.  This is something that as a teacher in a secondary (junior high and high school) classroom frustrates me with many programs out there for teacher-to-student use.  Why do only elementary school teachers get to try things for free?  Or, why do secondary teachers only get to choose one class?


Over at Ask a Tech Teacher, Jacqui Murray talked about a service called Storyboard That.  I was intrigued by it because it appeared to allow students to create comic book style storyboards, which would be a great tool for sequencing the plot of a story we've read in class, instead of doing a flow map.  It seems to have multiple visual uses and some work already created, like for Romeo and Juliet.  But, it's only free for a two-week trial.  The pricing isn't outrageous.  Elementary school teachers, you could get away with $60/year, and I would spend $75.  They do have department and school pricing, but there always needs to be someone who tries it first.

Jacqui also supplied me with a tip for my Chromebook I didn't know about.

Read Report for September 2015 Part 2

Here are the posts I found interesting that were written up at the end of September.

The EdTechTeam talked about student tech talks under their #ONENEWTHING hashtag.  I really liked the idea.  I don't think I could do it that often, but maybe once a grading period.  I like the idea of students presenting tech ideas.  I especially like the idea about having them sumit, via Google Form, what they want to talk about (they don't need to know about incognito mode).

Another one from EdTechTeam, is about designing a Google MyMaps lesson.  I'm sure this would be really great for social studies teachers.  I could see possibly using it myself with students for historical backgrounds on novels and stories, or to map out the journey of the characters in a novel or in a story the students create themselves.




Over at te@chthought, they made a top 10 post about knowing you are doing it right.  I found it interesting, particularly numbers 5 and 9.  My mother can attest that I have a penchant for not doing what I am told, and I think I have brought that into my adulthood.  I also have issues with some of the higher higher ups not thinking about the individual student and only looking at them as data points.




I came across this post from Connected Principals about why educators should blog.  I think the first point stood out to me more than any of the others.  Blogging requires reflection.  It's so true.  I often find that I have something in my head that I could blog about, but then I never seem to find the time, or I have to make time and something else (grading, planning) suffers.