First off MACUL was AMAZING! But, I have to say I felt overwhelmed by how much there was to see. I wanted to go so to many seminars but there just wasn't enough time. I was overwhelmed in this way:
Anyways....
I loved how much there was to see!!! When I walked through the exhibit I was shocked by how many start ups there were. I attended three conferences two of which I feel I need to talk about in more detail:
In the morning I attended 140E "Getting Started with Google Classroom" by Jessica P'simer, technology specialist honey creek community school.
She spoke about they way in which you can operate Google classroom. I wanted to attend this because I have never actually used this platform before but I did not have a laptop to follow her instruction so I felt a little out of the loop for the hour. The screen was too far back to see what she was doing, unfortunately. But during the Q and A many talked about the benefits of Google class and the negatives of it. I felt that I have a better understanding of the ways in which this tool can be used in the future and I will explore how to use this in my future classroom because it seems like a great way to organize a teachers life and a students.
I also attended 140B "Become a High Efficiency Educator Today" by Mitch Fowler
His lecture was great because he talked about many of the technologies we have discussed in class but one thing I did not know about was something called Plicker more information below:
Basically... it is a way to use your phone and paper as a substitute for an iClicker student arrange a preformed shape in a certain way to represent a,b,c,d options and the teacher can use an iPad or a phone to scan the configuration students hold up. Once scanned data is collected and saved on a spread sheet. I think that was really cool because the shapes are easy to print out and you can laminate them and use them all the time. Mitch did say that it is better to matte the lamination in case of interference. I think this a genius innovation because it doesn't require any technology but a personal teacher phone.
I hope that you didn't feel like Lucy and Ethel all day, Sara, but I can certainly understand being overwhelmed by all the choices....LOTS going on. Plickers is new to me, so thank you for passing that one along. I'm also glad that you attended the session by the Honey Creek teacher. It's a small school here in A2 that has a strong reputation for innovation. I hope you had a chance to speak with Mary Starr, Sara...she's good person to add to your personal learning network.
ReplyDeleteSara,
ReplyDeleteI was in the presentation about Google Classroom, too! Having jumped about quite a bit during the first session, I came in somewhat late. It seems to be all the rage, and I think the attendance at the presentation speaks for itself. Google is doing great things, but some other presenters were touting edmodo as the titan of online classrooms. I will indeed check out both of them and decide which might work better for me.
Interesting to read about Plicker! I had never heard of this before reading your blog. It seems a fine way to assess student learning and encourage risk-taking by increasing anonymity in responses. Sure, students can look about to see how others have responded, but it seems to me that holding up a card is more subtle than raising one's hand and speaking aloud. Moreover, the teacher can assess exactly which students grasp the material and which do not, since each student is assigned a certain card. Having said that, I still think that the cards could be a bit cumbersome. Polleverywhere allows students to register and display their answers in real time with their phones. However, the drawback here is that the teacher cannot know individual student responses. Nice post!
Branden
Sara,
ReplyDeleteYour post about Plicker really intrigued me and I watched the YouTube video link you had on your blog. I see the BIG advantage is that I would be supplying the technology and the students wouldn’t have to worry about having a cell phone, tablet, or laptop. Additionally, it is a method for all students to participate just by holding up a piece of paper. I often have trouble getting students to respond even when I ask them relatively simple questions so I see Plicker as a way to encourage full participation in the class. Finally, immediately collecting and collating the data would allow me to check student understanding. I would be able to see if there are challenges for the students and quickly modify my lesson according to students’ needs. Thank you so much for sharing your experience at MACUL and I definitely am going to try Plicker in my class!
Sara,
ReplyDeleteYour post about Plicker really intrigued me and I watched the YouTube video link you had on your blog. I see the BIG advantage is that I would be supplying the technology and the students wouldn’t have to worry about having a cell phone, tablet, or laptop. Additionally, it is a method for all students to participate just by holding up a piece of paper. I often have trouble getting students to respond even when I ask them relatively simple questions so I see Plicker as a way to encourage full participation in the class. Finally, immediately collecting and collating the data would allow me to check student understanding. I would be able to see if there are challenges for the students and quickly modify my lesson according to students’ needs. Thank you so much for sharing your experience at MACUL and I definitely am going to try Plicker in my class!
Sara- I enjoyed your blog post and I certainly related when you noted that bringing a laptop to follow along might have helped. Wilbur noted the same thing in his blog post, in fact. The second presentation you went to seems really interesting because it allows the teacher to use their phone in a useful way but not to become a distraction. Printing out laminated choices and the teacher using the phone to keep track of student answers seems like an innovative approach. I feel like this could be particularly useful at younger age levels.
ReplyDeleteHi Sara, very informative post about MACUL experience. I never knew about Plickers until now. So I googled about it and found more information. Very interesting idea indeed. This is an especially cool thing to use with younger students. Students need to logon to an online classroom and its such a simple coding method. I think I would have definitely given it a try if I was in a elementary or middle school classroom.
ReplyDeleteHi Sara, very informative post about MACUL experience. I never knew about Plickers until now. So I googled about it and found more information. Very interesting idea indeed. This is an especially cool thing to use with younger students. Students need to logon to an online classroom and its such a simple coding method. I think I would have definitely given it a try if I was in a elementary or middle school classroom.
ReplyDelete