#FallCUE Conference

Wow. What an amazing 2 days in beautiful Napa, CA! I was able to learn, connect, and reflect at CUE's annual Fall Conference at American Canyon High School, which is an incredible campus in its own right. The conference was split into two days which challenged, inspired, and mentally wore me out thinking about how to flip, disrupt and Googlefy my classroom. I was continually reminded that technology is not just something to use in the class, but rather something to enhance the learning of today's 21st Century learner. So here is a summary of that reminder and my experience at Fall CUE.

Day 1: Google Apps EDU Certification Training

I was really excited about this training and learning how to expand my knowledge in the arena of Google Apps for Education. Little did I know of what all this entailed. I was lead by three fantastic Google Teachers, Danny Silva, Dave Childers, and Alice Keeler. All three were trained in the Jedi ways of Google and really gave me a better grasp as to how to not only use Google Apps more effectively in my class and school, but it also gave me a deeper insight of what Google EDU can do to enhance learning and collaboration. I was also blessed to have a great partner, Shauna Hawes, to work through the day with and bounce Google Apps language between the two of us.

Throughout the day training I became better accustomed with Google Docs, Forms, Spreadsheet, Sites, Calendar, Gmail, Marketplace, and Dashboard. All of these absolutely blew my mind with how they work together and are used to better the classroom effectively. Now, implementing them amongst my staff will be another journey, but what I discovered was the need to gain approval for our school's own domain for Google Apps. I think that will be my next step in getting staff and others on the Google Apps train for success.

Day 2: 5 Excellent Sessions

Session 1: Technology + Student Directed Learning = Success for All!
What a fantastic first session to start my 2nd day at FallCUE. Julie Garcia and Tim Weidmann presented on how to use iPod Touch's, Math Apps, and Wikis in the classroom to enhance learning. We were split up into three stations that allowed us the opportunity to listen in on their specific classroom strategies and ideas. Tim had a fantastic example of how to use Wikispaces to allow students to collaborate and access projects and resources for math experience. I was then able to get a hands-on experience with some IPod Touch's and some radical apps that supplement math standards. One in particular was Math Legend which is an app that allows students to feel like they are playing Guitar Hero but apply the math skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Finally, Julie Garcia showed some great video ideas to implement into the classroom with particular math objectives. I really enjoyed hearing her ideas of using video to capture math in a way that is disruptive and innovative for the student.

Session 2: Knowledge is Freedom: CIPA, COPPA, and FERPA Explained Succinctly
Ok...this session was really an eye opener for me! Mark Wagner, Google pro, was very specific in describing what these laws say and how they apply to the classroom when using the Internet within the classroom and throughout the district. I really appreciated how Mark lead this course in sort of an open discussion/forum. Many of the people that chose to go to this session had some connection with how these laws effect them in some sort of way, either positive or negative. At any rate, I feel that after this session, CIPA, COPPA, and FERPA are a little more clear to me and what my actual rights are in using the web in a more accurate way.

Session 3: Google Earth
Now, if I do have to pick one session that didn't impress me as much, it had to be this one. Unfortunately, the projector was not as clear, which was out of the presenter's hands, but didn't help his particular presentation. However, with that said, I did begin to see the amazing things that I can use Google Earth to enhance lessons, specifically in the subject of Social Studies. I discovered the use of 3D Buildings and Tours as being two fantastic tools to utilize within the Google Earth application that could be truly powerful.

Session 4: A 45 Minute Social Studies Makeover
If there is one area that I always feel I need to improve in is the subject-area of Social Studies. Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely love the curriculum of Social Studies, but there are times that I really struggle with teaching my 6th graders in that captivating way that I was taught that gave me the appreciation I have for history today. James Gates did an incredible job in sharing specific resources within Google search that could really illuminate how to research and find specific things on the Internet. I also learned about using the Pecha Kucha method to implement when students present. Basically, the Pecha Kucha limits the students to present their slides in a 20 second per slid fashion. It also makes it to where students cannot use bullet points to help them in their presentations. Overall, a fantastic course on how to make Social Studies a little more interactive and interesting for my students.

Session 5: Flipteaching: Using Screencasting and Tablet Technology Shift the Homework-Instruction Paradigm
Now there is always that one session that completely blows your mind and refreshes your outlook at some of our teaching practices. Well, Ramsey Musallam's Flipteaching session was that for me! Now, whenever your presenter starts out with the fact that he might get the phone that he needs to leave because his wife could go into labor at any second, you know you picked the right session to be at! Musallam introduced me to the concept of an "Explore - Flip - Apply" model. This alone was a paradigm shift for me, and it was only the beginning of the session. I have always been intrigued on the idea of filpteaching, but I never really knew how to structure it in a way that made it practical to use with 6th graders. Now, Musallam has access to a lot more resources than I do at my site, but I am tired of that being an excuse of wanting to accomplish something that I think can be seriously effective for my students. One idea that he shared with the group was the use of screencasting to record lessons in order for students to access in order to assimilate the instruction during class. He also modeled how to use Google Docs to help record when students watched the screencast and complete the desired activities for the next day's assignment. I have used Screenflow to capture movies on my desktop, but my subscription has recently expired and I don't have anything to use to screencast any of my lessons. I was bummed about this until Musallam shared that the newest version of Quicktime can record desired sections of your screen and it is free! So that is what I am destined to begin with when creating my screenflows for my lessons. Overall, a fantastic session and completely opened the floodgates with ideas for creativity with flipteaching.

So that was summation of FallCUE! Michael Horn and Tammy Worcester were fabulous keynote speakers begin and end the conference as well. They were the perfect bookends to the conference I was influenced and inspired by the two of them. I think the best thing about the weekend was the fact that I was able to spend it with my beautiful wife. This was our first get away in a long time and it was much needed! Fantastic conference Fall CUE! I am looking forward to next year already!