FETC 2019 Reflections

In my bio, I call myself an "occasional blogger." I supposed that blogging about a conference months later just reinforces that point!

This year our school sent a team of teachers to FETC. Towards the end of the trip, the elementary team was sitting at dinner and I brought out a notepad and pens. We each sketchnoted something that we learned about that we wanted to try in our classrooms.

Many of the ideas overlapped. (Cara was mad that I wrote down the Alexa Skill Blueprints before she could do so.) What was fantastic was the fact that no one batted an eye when I suggested the sketchnote. We had meaningful conversations about Flipgrid, OneNote, Kinful, Loom, Immersive Reader, thyng, Merge Cube, and Alexa Skill Blueprints. We brainstormed ideas for using these tools in the classroom. It was one of my favorite moments of the conference.

I also got to meet Paul Reynolds. We recently purchased Fab@School from Fablevision Learning for the STEAM Lab, after years of trying to find funds for the purchase. I love the STEAM focus of Fablevision Learning and the STEAM books that Paul Reynolds has written.

I am a huge fan, so it was wonderful to have some books autographed. I also talked with Peggy Healy Stearns, who created Fab@School, about ideas for using the program.

This conference was not all fun and games. Cara and I presented a two hour workshop called Bringing Learning to Life with Green Screen & Augmented Reality. It went well, even though we got an email from HP Reveal the FRIDAY AFTERNOON before we left letting us know that HP Reveal Studio will soon stop working. That is not news you want to hear before you present a 2-hour workshop on how to use green screen (DoInk) and AR using HP Reveal. (I'll blog soon on our recent replacement)

I also presented a lecture session on STEAM in Action. I had only 30 minutes between sessions, so one of the ladies in my session made this meme for me.

We also got to cheer on Nicole.

It was a wonderful few days of learning in Orlando. Many of the ideas we learned about have already been applied in our classrooms. Thyng has been the biggest find for me so far, but that will be a blog post of its own. I hope to make it to #FETC20 in Miami!

STEAM in Action at FETC 2018

Good morning from Orlando! I am at FETC getting ready for my first of two poster sessions. I have plans to update my blog with all my conference presentations, but it is going to take a little time to get that done.

So...here is the presentation I will share later today.



STEAM in Action at FETC 2018

Enjoy!

Wrapping up 2014

I'm sitting on the couch watching my Arkansas Razorbacks in the Texas Bowl. It is the first time this since school let out that I've pulled out my laptop and done anything at all work related. Even then, it is mostly fun and not "work." I have stopped by my classroom a few times, but only to feed the fish and water our seedlings. Newspaper pots, anyone?

My husband and I splurged a few days before Christmas. We hired "The Maids" to come in and deep clean the house. It had to be one of my very best ideas ever. After that, I declared this to be the Christmas of no mess and no stress. Amazingly enough, it actually worked. I'm considering making 2015 the year of no stress and no mess. We'll see how it goes!

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you saw my big news.

I'm still in shock! I submitted two proposals for ISTE 2015. My goal was to try for a poster session so that I could just attend the conference. My husband said that I was selling myself short. To humor him, I submitted a modified version of the session I did at the NCTM regional conference. On the day that resulted were announced, I had my Tweetdeck open and waiting for word that the notifications had been sent out. I was so sure that I was going to get a rejections that I didn't add to the "still waiting to hear" posts. I logged in to my account at 8pm to see that both proposals were accepted. I was left flabbergasted!

Before then, of course is FETC. I had an amazing time last year. If you are going to FETC, so sure to check out this post. I first learned about the PBS LearningMedia Digital Innovator program at a session at FETC. If you are a teacher that is passionate about using technology in the classroom, I would highly recommend looking into this program.

Happy New Year! My the rest of your break have no mess and no stress!

FETC Discount Code

November was all about conferences for me. I attended the NSTA Regional Conference in Orlando early in the month. A couple of weeks later I flew to Houston to present at the NCTM Regional Conference. I have a blog post planned with my favorite finds from these two events if I can just find time to sit down and write.

I love conferences. I always find such neat ideas. I actually like going to conferences enough that I have started to submit proposals to present. My school is a lot more willing to send you when you are presenting. After attending FETC last year I knew that I needed to try my best to get back again!

I'd like to personally invite you to attend my session at FETC 2015, taking place January 20-23 in Orlando, Florida. Information on my session is below, along with a special registration discount of up to $110 off the Regular Conference Package Prices*.

Mixing it up with STEAM (AS3062)
Date: Friday, January 23, 2015

In this session, we will discuss how your students can mix a recycled cardboard arcade with technology including augmented reality, Google Apps, and movie making.

FETC is the leading international conference that brings education and technology experts together to exchange strategies and best practices for teaching and learning success—and I’m thrilled to be a part of it! Make plans now to join me and discover the future of education technology.

Register today using my unique promo code – SPK376 – and receive $110* off the Regular Registration fee! For more information on the conference, please visit www.FETC.org

*$110 discount off Regular Conference Rates, or $10 off the current Early Bird rates.
Please note – the discount does not apply to currently registered attendees.

I hope to see you this January!

Five for Friday: The FETC Edition

I *should* be heading to bed right now, but I have several tabs open in my browser that I’m not ready to close yet. As a compromise to myself, I decided to blog about a few things I’ve discovered this week at FETC.

(I’ll be busy conferencing and driving back home, so I’m writing my Five for Friday on a Thursday night. )

1

educade.org

This morning we heard Lucien Vattel. He is CEO of GameDesk and founder of Educade. While I have dabbled with gaming in the classroom before, I had honestly tuned out previous mentions to this resource. When he started to show specific example during the keynote, I started frantically taking notes.

I already signed up for a free account and have filled my backpack with games and activities I want to try with my students. We saw examples of Motion Math, Dragon Box, Jason’s Rollercoaster, and Reach for the Sun being used in the classroom. I love how you can search for the games by age and topic!

2

BrainPop GameUp

Wednesday night at the exhibit hall opening event, I got to meet a celebrity.

For those of you who are not elementary teachers, that is Moby from BrainPop.  Today I went to a session on games and assessment. One of the resources mentioned was Game Up from BrainPop.



What impressed me most is that BrainPop has compiled games from other sources as well as their own creations. Again, these are easy to search and have many potential classroom applications.

3

Scan to Learn

I’ve been bit by the augmented reality bug. I am still so impressed! I posted about using colAR in the STEAM Lab earlier this week. I was even more impressed when they names colAR one of the four WOW resources at the Tech Share.

I plan to use Aurasma to add some augmented reality to our cardboard arcade, so I went to a session today about using augmented reality in the classroom.

Karen was fantastic. I do not yet have iPads in my lab, but I discovered some computer based AR sites, too. This video is one worth checking out.

I’m also thinking about using Heart Cam to give AR Valentines to my students. Nothing says, "Happy Valentine's Day!" quite like a virtual beating human heart from your STEAM teacher. I’m still working out the details, but I think it just might work!

4

Parallels Access

This was another WOW from the Tech Share. The idea is that you can remotely access programs from your Mac or PC on your iPad. The video explains it better than I can.

It is $49.99 for a year subscription, but as a conference attendee at the TechShare, I was given a subscription to try out through the end of the year. I’m excited to try it out once I get home. I’ll let you know how it goes!

5

The last one is too hard to pick, so I'll write about two. I guess that makes it Six for Thursday, but that's okay.

I went to an fantastic session on Google Apps. I just looked at the presenter info and discovered that one of the two presenters was Susan from The Digital Scoop.

Our eChalk subscription should be going live in a couple of weeks, so I was looking for ways to use Google Drive with my students. I was taking notes like crazy to keep up with all the fantastic things Jason and Susan have done with their classes. Thank goodness for Evernote!

I also went to a session about STEAM. I usually walk away from STEAM sessions disappointed because the presenter spent too much time talking about what STEAM is and not enough time talking about the ‘how’ and the available resources. Michael from 21Centuryedtech found a nice balance between the two. He said that he has a blog post coming up about STEAM resources that I can't wait to read.

~~~~~~~~

I’ve spent the last two nights in my hotel room pouring over the resources from the workshops, sessions, and speakers. I have quite the ‘to do’ list of things to try out when I get back.

I miss my two little ones and the Irishman, but I am going to enjoy one last night in a bed of my own without anyone to wake me up!