MassCUE Conference by Mercè Garcia

Last week I had the pleasure of attending MassCUE technology conference providing educators from across the Commonwealth and New England with exciting ways to enhance teaching and learning with technology. Starting from the conviction that technology is a great tool, but not a learning outcome; and, having in mind student-centered learning, I was hoping to expand on my knowledge of best practices and new trends, as well as new tools in order to prepare students to take charge of their learning and be successful in the process. Through multiple engaging sessions and workshops I was reminded of the importance of empowering teachers to take risks, the importance of providing them with ample professional development opportunities and to give them the access and tools, giving them the choice to “use technology.” It was all about pedagogy and not about the tool. It was all about changing the landscape to empower students to use the tools that they wanted and create the artifacts that bring meaning to their learning. 

In all the sessions I went to, I came out thinking about what we are already doing at Park and what do I take out of this workshop that can be a useful implementation at our school. There were many things we were already doing well, some even ahead of our peer schools, but of the new tools I discovered I would love to highlight three of them:

A.- Flipgrid 

This was not a new app for me and neither is it for many of the teachers at Park. Yet, it might be new to some others, and given the potential of its use in the classroom, I wanted to highlight it as one of my top three. It is a video response platform where educators can have online video discussions with students or other educators. Teachers can provide feedback to students AND better yet students can provide feedback to one another. The best part? Flipgrid is now completely free!. Here are some ideas for its use:

1. Create a grid and topic and share it
2. Students log in and record their video (Flipgrid can be used on ANY device)
3. You and your students reply to one another and take the discussions further!
4. Reading response goes digital. After your class reads an article, chapter or book have them respond to a question about their reading. Take the conversation further by having students comment on each other’s responses.2. End of year (semester) reflection. 3. Advice to next year’s class.  

   4. Debate about a topic! 

   5. Reflect on a lesson or unit. 

   6. Exit tickets get a makeover. Post the question “What did you learn today?” or better yet ask your students “What did you create today?” for the students to answer before leaving class.

   7. Number talks. Have students explain their thinking and critique the reasoning of others as they work through a math problem. Looking for more ideas for using Flipgrid in math? Be sure to check out Sean Fahey’s fantastic post 13 ways to enhance math lessons with Flipgrid.

   8. Brainstorming in the Engineering Design Process. Students can jump very quickly to planning or even building before they get out their ideas in a brainstorming session. Slow them down a bit and capture their thinking as they throw out their ideas on Flipgrid. Add a Flipgrid to the brainstorm portion of this Intro to Engineering Design Process HyperDoc.

   9. Put a spin on the student of the week. Have each student record a video sharing why that student of the week is special. Students will enjoy watching video messages from their classmates sharing why they are a valued member of their classroom community.

   10. Reboot your standard biography report.  The example given was to use Nadine Gilkison’s amazing Biography Inquiry HyperDoc to teach students all about biographies. Finally, have students dress up as the person they are researching and record a short presentation video.

    11. Appreciation/Thank you card. After a field trip, or during appreciation week have your class record their own video thank you cards.

   12. 30-second book talk challenge. Have your students share about their favorite book in 30 seconds or less.                                                             

   13. As an assessment tool

• How Math Teachers Use Pear Deck document.
• How ELA Teachers Use Pear Deck document.
• How Science Teachers Use Pear Deck document.
• How World Language Teachers Use Pear Deck document.
• How Social Studies Teachers Use Pear Deck document.