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Friday, April 29, 2016

Attending NETA - Add it to your "Professional Bucket List"


As a person that has attended many conferences, when you attend NETA you will come home with SOOOO MUCH information, and feel overwhelmed. No jokes you will. Even with the feeling of being overwhelmed (yes, even as a tech person), a more powerful feeling will take over -- EXCITEMENT. Last week it wasn't only me feeling both overwhelmed and EXCITED, several educators, attended the NETA conference.

NETA is the "cream of the crops" when it comes to conferences. It is the biggest conference in this area (it is held at Century Link in Omaha--told you it is big). 


Below is the list of educators that attended the NETA conference and their favorite session(s), please chit chat with them about NETA.  
"THE BEST RESOURCE IS EACH OTHER."

I can speak for all of us that attended the conference, the newest item in education is Breakout Edu. It is AWESOME! Some of us experienced it first hand, not only at this conference but the 1 to 1 conference.  TLC has submitted a Foundation Request to purchase a few these boxes for the district, and we hope to have them for next year (16-17). Please click HERE to find out more about Breakout Edu. 

Tip: If you click on the name of the presenters, it will direct you to their Twitter account. Great way to build your PLN. 


Ginger Bechtold - Free Tech Tools for Teachers 3.0 & Ten Tech Tools to Transform Your Language Arts Classroom
Resource: Free Tech Tools for Teacher 3.0 - Mickie Mueller
Resource: Ten Tech Tools to Transform Your Language Arts Classroom - Jill JohnsonShanna Meyer, & Megan Seibel

Katie Chamberlain - Google Classroom Tips and Tricks
Resource: Google Classroom Tips and Tricks - Mickie Mueller


Janice Dickerson - SPACE: Hacks, Tips, and Ideas on Learning Space Design
Resource: Transforming Learning Spaces- NETA - Dr. Bob Dillon

Julia Gross, Missy Goergen, and Amber Moore -- Genius Hour AKA Passion Project
Resource: Genius Hour

Heather McKay - Developing, Designing, and Delivering Powerful Presentation
Resource: NA - Ken Shelton
Few Tips

  1. Don't use the following fonts in presentations: Comic Sans, Bradley Hand, Casual, or Brush Script. 
  2. Do use the following fonts in presentations: Baskerville, Bodoni, Franklin Gothic, Futura, Optima, Rockwell, Gill Sans.
  3. Use real images to communicate not clipart. 
  4. No bullet points.


Leah O'Donnell  - Reset the Presets 

Stacie Sorensen - Code like a Boss & Be a Data Super Hero: Using the NEW Awesome Tables
Resource: Code Like a Boss - Jason Rushing
Resource: Be a Data Super Hero: Using the NEW Awesome Tables - Stacey Behmer, Lance Lennon, & Jeff Sypermsa

Additional comments from our attendees about their favorite session(s):


KC-I really like the session on Google Classroom. It was a good reminder of all the things it can do for you. Teachers can use it for bell ringers with the short answer or multiple choice questions. Google Classroom can be linked to your calendar. You can also post resources, so students can't lose anything. Each year you should also archive your classroom and start a new class so the stream doesn't get too long.

JG- Genius Hour is a great thing to do before Christmas and at the End of the Year when the kids lose motivation. They pursue a project that they are passionate about and then create a way to share it! This can be anything from a Youtube Video to an online quiz, to a poster. This is something I will definitely use in my classroom!

AM- My favorite was the passion project. A passion project gives the students some choice in their learning at least some of the time and allowing them to focus on whatever they want to. 

HM- Tough to pick my favorite. Plickers is a great formative assessment tool.

LO- I bounced around a lot to different sessions to sample things. 
The main speaker (Tony Vincent), he had some good ideas of Apps/Websites at one of his sessions that I'll check out either just to put on my website so kids can check out.

Blendspace.comEdpuzzle.comNewsela.com- news, info, quizzes, Wonderopolis- news, info, quizzes, Participate.com- search for any app, Appshopper.com- have a certain image/icon for apps you download, & Add-on for Google: Super Quiz

SS - I loved Breakout.edu. I would suggest to LIKE their Facebook page.  Also, I loved Awesome Tables!


#ACSDTECH

By: Jessica Fincel