This is a guest post written by Amy Moe, Instructional Technology Specialist at Pine Meadow Elementary. Do you need a scholarship to attend a conference or participate in professional development? Apply today!
I was able to attend the Impact Education Conference with support from CMLE. This was beneficial for me as an instructional technology specialist. The sessions available covered a wide variety of programs, implementation and tools. There are three programs and/or tools that will be beneficial to try within my district.
Keyboarding-This is a hot button topic in my district due to consistency among grade levels and continuity between buildings as well as the ability to track student progress. New ELA standards that are forthcoming will also play a role in the tools or programs needed. I attended a session from Keyboarding.com to compare it to the program we currently use (Typing Club). It will be interesting to pilot with a classroom or two to see how it teaches kids to use home row keys and not to “peck”. They gave out cute little bobble head chickens as a reminder.
Applied Digital Skills via Google-I think this would be good to integrate with keyboarding. These project-based activities could be put in after certain levels of keyboarding are met that introduce students to Google Docs, Google Slides, and so on. These activities practice real-life skills such as researching and creating presentations and complement digital skills taught such as coding and digital citizenship. I feel our staff would benefit from a few of the courses as well!
Seesaw-I LOVE Seesaw and have been using in my school for the last 5 years or so. I am a Seesaw Ambassador but learn something new each time I attend a session at this conference. This time was no different. We learned how to “FLIP” the lesson for a small group situation such as math stations. Teachers can record video directions with modeling and print a QR code for students to scan. AMAZING! There were also great networking opportunities to see how other classroom teachers and specialty areas use Seesaw.
A great big thank you to the gals at CMLE for seeing the importance of allowing individuals to attend this conference.