My Day at EdCamp Dallas

My Day EdCamp Dallas 2013

This was the first EdCamp I attended outside of El Paso, TX.  An EdCamp is a free, unconference.  The educators in the room determine what the sessions will be and what they would like to share.  If you walk into a session and the conversation doesn’t feed you, it is understood that it is not an insult to leave and find a session that is right for you.  YAY!  You get to be in charge of what you want to learn.

The Meeting Room

Each participant received a blue and a yellow post it note.  You could write down a topic that you felt confident facilitating on the blue note, or a topic you wanted to learn more about on the yellow note.  

For those who wanted a digital version of a schedule, Guidebook, sponsored the event by providing access for free. We just downloaded the app and scanned a QR to get the schedule.

Tweep Board

Flipped Classroom with Shea Regian Forney ISD

Homework has never been the same.  With a flipped classroom, students learn the basics and mechanics at home by watching a video and do the work/practice/projects in class.  Shea shared her experience and how the flipped classroom works in her 8th grade math classes. Read more about this session here. 

Build your Own App 

Yapp Box is a free app that can be used to create your own app for the classroom.  It could be an app for a tech tips.  You can add buttons on the bottom for pages to twitter feed or a photo gallery.  It’s definately an app I will explore.

Hacking the Classroom

I snuck into this session so I missed the beginning.  Aimee Bartis was sharing how her class is hacking the tech apps classroom.  You can read her student’s blog and experiences at http://hackingtechapps.blogspot.com.  They love comments.  If you have time, leave one for her students.

Genius Hour

Martha Lacy shared what Genius Hour looks like in her classroom.  She said it’s important to decide when and how often genius hour would be.  To me, genius hour in her classroom seemed like a time to for students to create and integrate technology.  I loved Martha’s student examples, how well her elementary students collaborated with Google Docs and how excited she was about the students progress.  My favorite take away was the keynote story her students created.

Leadership and 1:1  with Greg Gardener

Greg facilitated a discussion to see where everyone was with 1:1.  I decided to attend this session because I work with a campus that will be going 1:1 iPads next school year.  I feel that not enough conversation is happening and not enough planning and preparation is in place. Read more here.

Teaching with AR

Todd Nesloney and Matt Gomez shared the Augmented Reality (AR) Apps they use in their classrooms.  He had Drew Minock and Erin Klein Google Hangout in to share their ideas.

Two Guys and Some iPads Blog

Kleinspiration Blog
Todd Nesloney's Blog 
Matt B Gomez' Blog

Apps Todd Shared

There were a lot of "ooooohs" and "ahhhhhs" during this session.  

AR Flashcards

ColAR

Daqri Elements (they haven't been release yet)

Aurasma

App Smash or Smack Down
Click on the link to view the list of things shared during the Smack Down.  It was awesome!  Tellagami is one of the free apps that were shared.  I created one very quickly.

EdCampDallas-Flipped Session

Flipped Classroom with Shea Regian Forney ISD

I attended this session at EdCampDallas to learn more about the Flipped Classroom.

Homework has never been the same.  With a flipped classroom, students learn the basics and mechanics at home and do the work/practice/projects in class.  Shea shared her experience and how the flipped classroom works in her 8th grade math classes.

She recommends using whatever technology you have to create the tutorials, Promethean or SMART Recorder, computer webcam, document camera, iPad (camera, Educreations, Explain Everything), or screen cast tool.  Shea uses One-Note to get the job done.

She explained that when she first began creating her videos she was a “talking head” and it would take her 30 minutes to create a video because she was looking for perfection.  Now, creating the video takes a few minutes and she doesn’t worry about perfection because making mistakes and correcting them is a part of a regular classroom. Some teachers in the group commented that they give extra points to students who catch a mistake while watching a flipped lesson for homework.  Shea is no longer a talking head anymore, she uses the sheets with examples and works them out during the flipped lesson.

What it looks like in Shea’s Room

Day 1-

(In Class) Students don’t get a choice. She tells the class that homework is not an option.  On the first day of the unit, she spends class time with the name of the unit, asking students what it sounds like to them, includes informal and formal language, and spends time talking about vocabulary.  When they go home, they spend 3-6 minutes watching the basics.  She always uses the terminology and vocabulary in her videos and in class.  Students are required to take good notes while they watch the flipped lesson.

Day 2- 

(Class time)- Shea spends time giving her explanation, appling the algebra to the real world and how students will use it in algebra II and geometry.  She also takes time to teach students how to take notes for homework.  Students know what she expects to see.

Review Night- These are the longest videos.  She usually will film 4 to 6 videos for the review.  If the class does the review, they get a free question on the test.

What if you have problems?

Shea says it's okay to revert back to the old way if something goes wrong.  Things will happen. It could be a bad storm and the internet is out for the entire neighborhood.  It’s okay to do it the old way for a day.

Students didn't do their homework? It's not an option.  They will do their homework. Her room is open at 7:45 in the morning and for a time period after school for students to come in and complete their homework. Students can go to the library and complete it there or even use their personal mobile devices.  Shea knows who completed homework by completing a quick walk while students have their notebooks open on the desks.  She checks them first thing. If the notes are good, they move on to the lesson.  If the notes are not good enough or have none, they go to the back of the room to complete it.  The computers students can use in class are slow and the chairs are uncomfortable.  Shea doesn’t try to create a perfect situation for them.  She mentioned that there was only one situation where a student proved she didn’t have a way to complete homework at home, before or after school.  Shea worked with her and a few of her teachers to allow her to leave a class a few minutes early to come sit in the back of the room to complete it daily. 

Grading

Homework is 10% of the grade.  If students do it, they get a 100.  If they complete it outside of the notebook it's a 90 until they cut it out and glue it in.  Students who didn't complete the homework before class can earn a 70 once it is complete.