Friday Five- EdCamp Follow-Up
The high school's second EdCamp PD day was a great day of professional collaboration. This installment of the Friday Five is dedicated to highlighting and building upon some of the great conversation that occurred.
1. Discussion Feature in Canvas: As of my last count, 173 entries were made into the Discussion thread that was started on Canvas. This tool allowed people, who did not see each other during various sessions, to share insights and ideas with one another. It also created a valuable resource for those who were not present Friday morning. Finally, it acts as a record of the day and continues to serve as a space for ongoing dialogue. If you haven't used this tool in your classroom, give it a try. It is an effective way to further discussion on timely topics. Many people have asked me if it is difficult to grade a discussion. SpeedGrader groups a student's responses together. This offers an easy way to evaluate the number and quality of student responses. Below is a screenshot of what this looks like in SpeedGrader. Thanks Nicole Gordienko for allowing me to share your responses!
Check Out This Great Resource on creating valuable online discussions.
2. Google Integration: Another FAQ was about how I embedded the EdCamp Grid into a Canvas Page. While this has long been possible (click here for directions), the new Google LTI makes this process even simpler. If you are interested in having the new Live Beta (this means it is not perfect and is being tested broadly to fine tune) of the new LTI added to your course, email or see me. This will allow you to create cloud based assignments for students. Canvas and Google will make a copy of a Google Doc automatically for a student. The student can work on the assignment right in Canvas and then submit with a single click. Here is more info on this type of assignment. Thank you to Carol Ressler and Destiny Beck for piloting it with their classes!
3. PBL/Best Practices: Many sessions got major kudos in the online discussion, but one in particular that received a lot of attention was Frank Flanagan and Lisa Russell's session on Project Based Learning. Frank created a Smore of resources for PBL. This session, and the resources shared, couples nicely with the discussion facilitated by Deb Cotner-Davis and Ray Ott. As we finish out our second decade of the 21st century, we need to continue to find ways to make schools relevant for our student's futures. The ideas shared in these sessions help to do this.
— Pennridge HS (@PennridgeHS) February 17, 2017
4. Twitter for PD and PR: There was a lively discussion of how Twitter can be used to further professional learning and to create a positive image of our school. Lisa Maderic offered a great suggestion of adding a reminder to your phone to send a Tweet once a week. Imagine if each teacher tweeted one positive example of the great things going on at PHS to @PennridgeHS and @pennridgesd! The more we share the wonderful things being done in our classes with the community, the more support we will receive. Here is a blog post Scott Hegen created on the subject.
5.Technology and the Tactile: Finally, I am so sorry I missed Eric Kehs and Matt Simkins' session that incorporated kinesthetic activities and tech tools. The supervisors are reporting an increased demand for shaving cream. Everyone who attended had a great time and was reminded that technology is one of the many tools that can be used to create a meaningful and effective learning experience for students. Eric and Matt shared great examples and here is an article about some other effective strategies to get students moving in your classroom.
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