Category: Conferences

#EdcampRL Reflection

4/29/2020

ᖴᒪIᑭGᖇIᗪ #Eᗪᑕᗩᗰᑭ

I love going to Edcamps, but that's not an option right now since we are currently still dealing with the CVD-19 quarantine. At the beginning of April, a Twitter colleague, Kyle Hamstra, started a conversation about how we could do a remote learning Edcamp so educators can use this time to keep learning and get inspired by other educators.

ᗷᖇIᒪᒪIᗩᑎT IᗪEᗩ!

That's when it started! The planning process started the next day through Google Meet (I'm super thankful for technology now more than ever). We immediately started a Twitter message group with anyone who expressed interest and invited them to join the conversation. Before we knew it, we were getting the ball rolling to start #EdcampRL (Remote Learning) through FlipGrid on 19 topics! It was a lot, but it worked out well for the first go-around (meaning, we will do this again)! You can still access all the grids if you sign up here. You will get the password and the link to our Flipgrid in the Google Form response message.

GOOGᒪE TIᑭs & TᖇIᑕKs ᐯIᗪEOs

I was the moderator on the Google Tips and Tricks grid. In this grid alone, there are 32 responses, 42 replies, 2517 views, and 50.0 hours of shared learning!
Here are a few ideas including videos from Pam Hubler (me), Greg Jung, Jared Johnson, and Alex Milton

TᕼE ᑭOᗯEᖇ Oᖴ ᐯIᗪEO

I know some of us are hesitant to record ourselves with a video platform for a lot of reasons. Maybe you are afraid of judgement from others, afraid of the reactions or comments from others, you don't feel like you are "camera ready" in that moment that you'd like to respond... the reasons go on and on. As I reflect on the event, I am reminded how important it is to share our ideas (no matter how small or simple it seams to you) in spite of the fear we may feel. We have to think like our kids sometimes, they don't think twice before picking up a device to record themselves sharing their ideas. For this reason, I always use two hashtags in my social media posts and I really mean it!

#sharingiscaring #bettertogether

I hope you'll do a few things after you read this.
1. Sign up for the #EdcampRL Flipgrid to at least check out the topics that catch your eye.
2. Add to a grid if the conversation reminds you of something that you find helpful.
3. Remember this quote... "Everyone you will ever meet knows something you don't."
That means you always have something valuable to share!

Image credit (linked)

6 Comments

10 Strategies for Middle School Motivation and Engagement

2/28/2020

0 Comments

#SCAMLE Conference 2020

I'm excited to present at the South Carolina Association for Middle Level Education conference this weekend! My session resources can be found in this Wakelet Collection on Saturday, February 29th. Presenting on a day that only happens every 4 years is pretty cool! If you have anything you'd like to add, please add a comment below and I can add it to my collection!

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8 Things that Made 2019 Awesome!

12/30/2019

4 Comments

2019 In Review!

I don't know about you, but I often forget all the great things that happen throughout the year. Luckily, I take pictures at almost all of the events I go to (expect family events... I need to get better at that)! So to start this post, I figured it would be easiest to make a video with all those photos so it would be easier to reflect on everything. If you want to try this, I use the Quik app by GoPro on my phone. It's super easy and FREE! You can find the mobile app on Google Play or the Apple App Store . This post is all about what was to accomplish this year, even if I didn't plan to. So let's travel back in time and see how it went!

1. 2019 Kick Off! #FETC

I'm really sad that I won't be going to FETC2020, but I'll make up for it by going to the conference hosted by Dave Burgess & friends, #dbcPIRATEcon in June (check it out here). It will be EPIC!
I've been in education for 23 years, and I've probably gone to FETC at least 15 of those years. It's still the best conference I've been to! Not only is it amazing, they treat their presenters SO well, even paying for their conference tuition. That goes a long way in an industry that doesn't usually have a big budget professional development opportunities! The best part of going to this conference has been the connections I've made over the years. Check out this blog post to find some EDURockStars to follow!

2. #TriCountyCoffeeEDU

My friend Pam Inabinett hosts a monthly CoffeeEDU here in Charleston on a Saturday morning to gather educators from the tri-county area in one place. It's a great opportunity to get to know others in our local area to add some personal value to our #TeachSC chat that Jed Dearybury hosts on Tuesday nights at 8:00 pm EST every week. I'm thankful for Pam's friendship and commitment to help others connect!

3. #BCSDCoachesDeepLearning

Berkeley County School District hosts monthly professional development sessions for coaches, including part of the day for Coach Cohorts. I love our time together as a group to learn from each other, but I have especially enjoyed our cohort time together. A small group of coaches from different areas of the county can really help to strengthen our coaching tool kit as well as build relationships. It's so nice to have a group of educators to go to when you need support!

4. Books!

I haven't written a book...yet, but I did get to appear in two in the last year! I know it's not much, but I was honored to be included in Tech Request by Emily Davis and Brad Currie (#satchat) and Connect to Lead by my friend Jacie Maslyk (also pictured in the video above at FETC). I couldn't imagine ever having anything to contribute to a book before becoming a connected educator. Now, my goal is to write one myself!
As far as reading books, I have to give DBCInc. crediThanks for most of my inspriation! I seriously love their books! Here's a link to all of my book blog posts if you need some ideas for your professional reading list.

5. All Things Shake Up Learning!

Kasey Bell and her Shake Up Learning community have been a big part of my life in the last couple of years, but this year was huge!
I'm one of the Community Managers for Kasey's Facebook groups, including for her online book studies. If you are reading the book Shake Up Learning, you need to check it out! It's a great way to read the book and connect with others for ideas. You can join the Facebook book study that starts in February 13th and runs through March 19th today! I also had my school bring Kasey to our school for her Dynamic Learning Workshop last October. It was great to have her in town and get the chance to hang out as well! The final treat of the year was getting to be on her podcast to talk about how I use #PottyPD. Here's the post and podcast if you want to check it out. I'm inspired by all that Kasey does for educators and value her friendship! If you aren't already connected with her, don't wait any longer!

6. Presentations!

This was one of my goals for 2019...present more! Besides holding Google trainings at my school, I got to present at quite a few conferences (local and national). It's my favorite thing to do in education! My long-term goal is to provide professional development to teachers full time!

7. EdCamp #EDUCoachSC

This was an amazing experience I got to be a part of with my friends Allison Walker and
Jen Shuffler! EdCamps can be an amazing PD opportunity and it's FREE! If you want to find an EdCamp by you, check out the organization site. You can also check out our site for our last event, and I'll let y'all know when we hold our next one! We hope you'll connect with us on Twitter.

8. #PD4uandme Twitter Chats

I can't say enough about this community! My friend Teresa Gross created #PD4uandme and asked if Emily Francis and I wanted to help out, because keeping up with a weekly Twitter chat by yourself is not easy! We hold this chat every Saturday (occasional Saturdays off during holidays and such) from 8:30-9:00 am EST. You can see the archives of all our chats in the Wakelet collection below. It's like a #CoffeeEDU on Twitter, so join us this weekend if you want to check it out!

Welcome 2020!

I apologize for such a long post, but this is what motivates me to do more each year (I hope it inspired someone out there too)! As a classroom teacher for a long time, I never thought this would be what a year would look like. I would love to hear what your stellar year looked like! Connect with me today on Twitter or comment below to keep the conversation going!
~Pam @specialtechie

4 Comments

How to Reduce Your #FOMO when #NOTATISTE18

6/26/2018

4 Comments

#FOMO

What is #FOMO? Fear of Missing Out!
I have it bad right now since I think everyone I know is in Chicago for #ISTE18!
But that's okay... I have already learned so much just by using the online resources available during the conference. This post is a guide to reducing your #FOMO and look at the positive side of things!

Photo by @reinabej via Twitter

1. No Lines

I've seen a lot of pictures on Twitter of people standing in line for hours. I'm not saying I wouldn't be one of those people if I was there. Remember, I'm just pointing out the positives!
When #NOTATISTE, you can still join many sessions virtually or find their resources so you can still get the information. You may even be able to "get to" more sessions without being there.

2. Save Time & Money

For a minute yesterday, I actually started checking flight prices and single day pass prices since a friend of mine was staying in a hotel all by herself. Really, I wanted to jump on a plane to go for at least one day. Being that it was going to cost about $600+ to go, I decided I would just hang at home with my family and learn from afar. Not to mention the amount of time I'd have to spend traveling from South Carolina to Chicago.

3. Try These Online Resources!

Here's the best part! SO many of the presenters are well aware that many people can't be there, so they share their resources for free!

TweetDeck

This is the best way to keep up with Twitter chats and other things being shared at #ISTE18 and #NotAtISTE. As you can see in the GIF here, it's always moving. If you've never used it before, it can be a little overwhelming, but you'll get used to it! I just scan the feed and click on it when it's something I want to explore further. I do suggest searching as I did with #ISTE18 OR #NotAtISTE18 so you can see both in one column.

On Monday night, Tara Martin @taramartinedu hosted the #TLAP twitter chat from #ISTE18 and this is how I kept up with the conversations. It felt like being there even if just for an hour. If you've never tried it, now's a good time!

Google+ #NotAtISTE

I don't use Google+ all the time, but it's really useful for events like this! I'm a member of the group, so every year, I just pop into the group again to see what's going on at the ISTE conference. Hopefully, they will come south again soon so I can drive there easily. You can ask to join here.
The #Hyperdoc ladies have been doing special events for the #NotAtISTE group this week. I participated in a Hangout Live on Sunday to kick off the week. You can find them at hyperdocs.co to check out their resources and connect with them online.

Periscope

One way you can enjoy the sessions for free is by using Periscope. I didn't fully appreciate this site until Sunday when I started watching some of my Twitter friends recording presentations for the Twitterverse. Love you guys BTW!
PassTheScopeEDU is a site created to share some of the great periscopes from #ISTE18
You could also just search Periscope for ISTE sessions and watch them live or after they've ended. Just make sure you search #ISTE18 to get the appropriate videos to populate, there are some weird ones out there!

How Can I Get the Most of a Conference without Going?

I started by creating a Google Keep list and titled it #ISTE18 so it would create a category. I use Google Keep because it's easy to add quick links in a checkbox style list. If I want to transfer my list to a Google Doc, I can open a new document and use the Keep Notepad (found under the Tools menu) and add it all in a quick second!
Next, I went to the ISTE website and looked at the Schedule at a Glance so I knew what I wanted to check out. You could also use the program search by clicking the "attend" tab and add to a digital tote (if you are a member) or just save the links to the presentation resources. It may take some time to scan through everything, but it will be worth it!
The most important thing is look for the resources you want to learn more about. You could get into information overload if you save everything just to have it.

Share, Share, Share!

Whatever you get from your #NotAtISTE experience, share what you find! #SharingIsCaring
Enjoy your PD in your PJ's! If you are still really sad about not going to ISTE18 you can start planning now to attend next year in Philadelphia!
I'll get there one day, for now I'll see you on Twitter and Google+ sharing the goodies I find. See you soon!

4 Comments

Oh, The Things You Learn at #FETC

2/3/2018

1 Comment

A Standing Date with FETC

I've been going to FETC for as long as I can remember. I really don't know how many times I've gone since I started teaching in 1997.
I started going when it was the Florida technology conference since I lived in Orlando at the time. Once I moved out of state, I decided I would still make it a standing date every year.

It's All About The People

Every year, I look through the session titles and try to narrow it down to the ones I need to go to right now. Over the last few years, since I've started using Twitter, I choose my sessions differently.

1 Comment

#EdcampRL Reflection

ᖴᒪIᑭGᖇIᗪ #Eᗪᑕᗩᗰᑭ

ᗷᖇIᒪᒪIᗩᑎT IᗪEᗩ!

GOOGᒪE TIᑭs & TᖇIᑕKs ᐯIᗪEOs

TᕼE ᑭOᗯEᖇ Oᖴ ᐯIᗪEO

#sharingiscaring #bettertogether

10 Strategies for Middle School Motivation and Engagement

#SCAMLE Conference 2020

8 Things that Made 2019 Awesome!

2019 In Review!

1. 2019 Kick Off! #FETC

2. #TriCountyCoffeeEDU

3. #BCSDCoachesDeepLearning

4. Books!

5. All Things Shake Up Learning!

6. Presentations!

7. EdCamp #EDUCoachSC

8. #PD4uandme Twitter Chats

Welcome 2020!

How to Reduce Your #FOMO when #NOTATISTE18

#FOMO

1. No Lines

2. Save Time & Money

3. Try These Online Resources!

TweetDeck

Google+ #NotAtISTE

Periscope

How Can I Get the Most of a Conference without Going?

Share, Share, Share!

Oh, The Things You Learn at #FETC

A Standing Date with FETC

It's All About The People

Author

Archives

Short Cuts

#EdcampRL Reflection

ᖴᒪIᑭGᖇIᗪ #Eᗪᑕᗩᗰᑭ

ᗷᖇIᒪᒪIᗩᑎT IᗪEᗩ!​

GOOGᒪE TIᑭs & TᖇIᑕKs ᐯIᗪEOs

​TᕼE ᑭOᗯEᖇ Oᖴ ᐯIᗪEO​​

#sharingiscaring #bettertogether

10 Strategies for Middle School Motivation and Engagement

#SCAMLE Conference 2020

8 Things that Made 2019 Awesome!

2019 In Review!

1. 2019 Kick Off! #FETC

2. #TriCountyCoffeeEDU

3. #BCSDCoachesDeepLearning

4. Books!

5. All Things Shake Up Learning!

6. Presentations!

7. EdCamp #EDUCoachSC

8. #PD4uandme Twitter Chats

Welcome 2020!

How to Reduce Your #FOMO when #NOTATISTE18

#FOMO

​1. No Lines

2. Save Time & Money

3. Try These Online Resources!

TweetDeck

Google+ #NotAtISTE

Periscope

How Can I Get the Most of a Conference without Going?

Share, Share, Share!

Oh, The Things You Learn at #FETC

A Standing Date with FETC

It's All About The People

Author

Archives

Short Cuts

ᗷᖇIᒪᒪIᗩᑎT IᗪEᗩ!

TᕼE ᑭOᗯEᖇ Oᖴ ᐯIᗪEO

1. No Lines