10 Takeaways from #ISTE17

ISTE 2017 San Antonio TX (International Society for Technology in Education) started on Saturday June 24 and ended on Wednesday June 28.  That is a lot of technology. I was there and here are some of my big take-aways.

1. Relationships with your students still are the most important part of teaching whether it be online or face to face.    This was reinforced with one of my first sessions via Scott Garrigan @scottgarrigan This was #2 on his list but he talked about this A LOT.  Here is the link to his presentation.  Here are his 12 strategies to successful Blended/Online Learning: 1.  instructor presence 2. build relationships 3. live web conferences & presentations 4. debates 5. brain rules 6. visual images 7. make relevant connections 8. creative application of content 9. featuring student work online 10. peer review/editing/grading 11. team projects 12.public presentation/publishing

2.  Homework?
Over and over I heard speakers talking about homework.  Homework is a big question mark.  Do we get rid of it altogether?  Do we call it something different?  What about classwork?  We need to think of Standards Work.  This is WORK but always getting at the understanding of the standards. Everything we do revolves around understanding the standards.  So let's call it StandardsWork.  My plan is to list the standards for each chapter. Then I will give a small sample set of problems that will need to be understood for each standard.  I will give formative assessments throughout the chapter to help students know where they stand with each standard.

3.  FEEDBACK, FEEDBACK, FEEDBACK
Digital Tools help us as teachers to give informative, personal, appropriate, and timely feedback.
Formative https://goformative.com/  Playlists, MC, Short Text Answer, Answers in Drawing mode etc.
Flipgrid  https://info.flipgrid.com/ Video discussion board
Padlet https://padlet.com/my/dashboard Discussion Sticky Note Board
Desmos Activity Builder https://teacher.desmos.com/  Slide progression with student feedback
Google Forms https://www.google.com/forms/about/  Feedback gathered in a spreadsheet
Socrative https://www.socrative.com/  A simple discussion board
Two session really inspired me regarding the importance of FEEDBACK:  Blended Learning Reboot and Using Tech Tools to Create Formative Assessments

4.  Every Student and Every Teacher has a Story.  Be a listener and try to hear that story.  Be bold and vulnerable, and tell your story.  Keynote Jennie Magiera @msmagiera

5.  A Digital Playlist is a list of things to get accomplished for your students.  Your student's progress can be recorded virtually.  An example might be if an instructor gives a playlist to the students at the beginning of the period and giving students the class period to complete it.  Here is an example of a playlist for a lesson from a playlist for an algebra 1 lesson. via Jason Appel @jasonkapple  http://www.jasonkappel.com/blog Here is his whole presentation.

6.  Create, Create, Create
We must push ourselves to offer our students more ways to CREATE instead of listening, memorizing and repeating.  There was no exact session on this, however many speakers emphasized this.  I love it.
Digital Creation Tools
Screencastify https://www.screencastify.com/ screencasts and more
Google Slides  https://www.google.com/slides/about/  Very versatile and collaborative for students
Google Draw Tricks from Andy Mann @andrewmmann Here is a copy of his awesome presentation
Order of Objects:  Select object and then CTRL + Up or Down Arrow
Move Object One Pixel:  Select object and then SHIFT+Arrow
Clone Objects: CTRL+SHIFT and click and drag object to desired place
Change Font Size: Select passage or word and then CTRL+SHIFT and < or >
Awwapp  https://awwapp.com/ Digital Whiteboard

7.  I was challenged to give my students more CHOICE this coming year.
"Learning must be student-centered.  Letting students have a voice in their pace, place and path gives them that learning experience."  via Melanie Lehman @MLehman76  with her session on Blended Learning

8.  Sketchnotes are awesome.  They provide a visual representation which can say so much more than just words and can trigger your memory to deeper connections.  They are often made when representing a story, a class lecture, a new representation of a known topic or just an outlet for creative expression.   The presenter was really terrific Amber McCormick @EdTechAmber .  A said something that I really liked.  She said she does not allow erasers.  Students love and hate the rule.  I might do this with my math students.

 I made this starter sketchnote with Amber guiding us.  She kept on reinforcing that ANYONE can do it.  I think she is right.  I think this is a good outlet for some students.  I used http://awwapp.com with this one.

9.  FAIL really means First Attempt In Learning  via @teach42 and @adambellow

10.  A panel of students was asked "What is one thing you wish schools would stop doing?"  Here are the answers HOMEWORK, LONG LECTURES, DESKS and BULLYING.  We need to listen to these students!