Collaboration of the Minds 2018

My favorite professional development event, round 2! During COM 2017 I learned a whole lot, but generally I was a little overwhelmed with the whole experience because I was still pretty new to teaching in the online environment. So this year I was really excited to go back with a better understanding of my knowledge and what I wanted to learn more about.

Keynote

In the online and blended learning world technology is obviously very important. So, that is why Liz Kolb’s keynote presentation that started off day 1 was mind-blowing to me.

She started out with telling us about this awesome new tool she started using in her classes that turned assignments into game quests like in video games that a lot of our students play. And then she dropped the “It didn’t work” bomb on us. She went so full into technology that the learning was starting to get lost.

That is when she presented her key point, Learning First, Technology Second. Her point was that technology is great when it can enhance learning, but sometimes using the next cool thing all the time can just get in the way. We need to be selective about the technology tools we use and ask ourselves daily, is this the best way for students to learn this material?

Communication Impressions… And the Teenage Brain

This was a really awesome part of the Social Studies Department meeting where we looked at examples of message from students and talked about responding to them in a positive and professional way. We talked about how different students respond to comments/situations differently and how we can best meet all of our students needs to leave everyone with a positive experience. This was great to take on the role of other types of students (I was always the annoying over-achiever type in High School) and imagine how certain words/phrases would effect them.

Overall, amazing discussion with amazing coworkers!

My Experience

This year I got to present a Spark Session about one of my current obsessions – Piktochart!

I presented on how teachers can use Piktochart to answer frequently asked questions, share expectations, and connect with students on a deeper level. I think that the presentations went really great (even though they were so short) because a lot of people had great questions/suggestions at the end about how they can implement my ideas and examples in their own classrooms, virtual and face-to-face.

I also got to present 10 Tech Tools in 10 Minutes to the Social Studies department! It was awesome to have the opportunity to share with my coworkers some of the awesome tech tools I had discovered over the past year. Check out the presentation below:

And I got presented with the Social Studies Team Award for Creativity and Innovation 2018. How awesome is that?

Overall, Collaboration of the Minds 2018 was one AMAZING experience and I hope I get to go again next year!