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Well, I can’t go on enough about how good this conference actually is. Here are some brief summaries of what I went to see at the conference.
My first session was with Ben Hazzard on Cross Classroom Collaboration. As part of his graduate studies work, he developed a site called Teachersconnecting.com. Although there are many forums and social networks which allow teachers to connect and partner with others from around the world, Ben’s site is unique in that it tries to match people based on their knowledge or comfort level with collaboration, teaching philosophy, and what projects are available for collaboration. One of the most interesting things I found with Ben’s presentation is how he defined collaboration for class projects. It simply isn’t finding someone with the same grade and subject. It can be between classes with similar interests for learning. It does not have to be bound by what some would consider appropriate opportunities to collaborate. Ben encourages teachers to collaborate with others not just from within their own schools but with schools across Canada or even Internationally. The site Ben has helped to create in conjunction with other like minded teachers from around the world have created a great portal to help you take that first step into online collaboration.
The next session was called Why Podcast? As I have mentioned in earlier posts, podcasting can be an incredible tool and resource for your classroom. Two teachers from Texas, Anna Adam and Helen Mowers host a podcast called Tech Chick Tips (check it out on Itunes or go to
techchicktips.net), They went on to extol the virtues of podcasting and retrieving podcasts. I won’t go into much detail but needless to say if you want to learn what a podcast is then check out:
There are number of things that you can do with podcasts and creating podcasts requires minimal equipment. The best thing about podcasts are that they are free! You can’t beat that!
After lunch, I attended Mary Lee Blemings session on Junior High Language Arts on the Smartboard. Basically, Mary Lee has developed a number of links, resources, slides, images and sounds that she has used in her teaching with Smartboard. Now while she uses the Smartboard extensively it is not the focal point of the class but a tool used to hepl convey the information to the students and to help reinforce concepts and ideas learned in class. She spoke about how she uses the board in her LA class and what she has done.
The last session of the day was on Senteo voting system. Our school had just received these Senteos and we are just learning how to use these in the classroom. The presenter showed us many examples of how to use the Senteo as a formative assessment tool and how to operate and read the data that the senteo clickers (as my kids like to call them). It also provides those students who would not normally be engaged in class a chance to answer. It can also be used to help gauge how well the students understood a concept in class, and where and who we should be spending more time with in class as well.
As you can see I have lots to write and ponder over the coming days and weeks, and I wish there were other sessions that I could have attended in addition to the ones that I mentioned. All the conference materials, slides, and links were made available by download from the conference.
Again, my thanks goes out to the organizers, the volunteers, the presenters, and everyone who helped make this conference a success.
Lee
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Thanks for the mention of the “Why Podcast” session–we’re so glad you enjoyed it. Sounds like you attended a number of other fantastic sessions. We had a great time and so enjoyed meeting everyone at the conference!
lee looking to see if you would like to present at next years teacher2techer conference as a featured teacher … let me know dates are mar 18-19
Dave, I am so sorry for not getting back to you earlier about the conference. I have been away and in the midst of house renos. I’d love to attend the conference. Please email me at lee.winik@northland61.ab.ca.
Cheers and thanks for the invite.
Lee W