Sparta's Tech Boot Camp Experience
As a presenter, one of my sessions was on the topic of Flipped Teaching. This is such a hot topic right now in education. I was more than ready to share the pedagogy and benefits of using Flipped Instruction in a classroom.
My Presentation:
I made sure to include plenty of
- personal stories
- engaging videos
- a video directly from our classroom
- a backchannel to "hear" from my audience
- digital tools to add to our digital toolbox
- examples of flipped videos
- time to work with the tools and practice making videos
The feedback I received from the audience was so positive and energizing. One success story I just have to share is about these three lovely teachers:
After listening to my presentation and learning how to make a quality flipped video, these 4th grade teachers from Sparta sat down and collaboratively created two flipped math videos for their students. Imagine how surprised their students will be next year when they watch and learn their math lesson from not just one, but three teachers taking turns teaching a math concept. Very impressive.
The other presentation I had the privilege to teach was on Schoology. Schoology is a learning management system (LMS) for hosting content online. Schoology and flipped teaching go hand in hand. This session was very hands-on.
We started with the participants joining a course I had created in Schoology. They experienced Schoology from the student point of view and had to complete assignments, take a quiz, engage in a discussion and use a flipped video to create a web site. The participants worked hard!
Next, the participants created a course of their own! They learned what it takes to take a course and put it into Schoology, including creating assignments, pages, links, tests and quizzes, discussions, and embedding a video. The participants were impressed with how much they were able to learn and accomplish on Schoology.
It is difficult to put into words what it meant to be a part of this Tech Boot Camp in Sparta, but let me try.
It was exciting to see my name and picture being displayed as a presenter. Not because of the recognition, but rather because I felt as though I had accomplished a goal I set out for myself, which was to pass on what I had learned about educational technology to other educators. And as a result, students in other classrooms will gain a richer, more technological education.
And when the participants would thank me for teaching them and helping them, all I could think was how much they had helped themselves by being willing to try new things and better their teaching practice and knowledge base.
In the end, I feel I am the one who gained the most, because I met and spent time with the most amazing group of presenters with whom I have been connecting with on Twitter for some time now. These friendships are invaluable and fill me will inspiration and motivation. What a privilege it is to be a member of Naomi Harm's Consulting Team.
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