8 Things I'll Take Away from the GafeSummit 2015

GAFE SUMMIT June 11 and 12, 2015 in Homer Glen IL

Here is the link to all of the sessions

1.  FAILURE IS A PART OF LEARNING.  We need to incorporate this idea into all we do as teachers.  We need to create activities that students don't feel like they have to get it perfect the first time.  We need to be honest and show our own mistakes and failures.
INSPIRED TO TRY:  Give my math students a chance to fail (try and try again) every day by these types of warm ups.    Estimation  Questions  Would you Rather... Thanks  @jamestsanders  presentation
MY FAVORITE:  Scroll down and see a few sites that students love.  http://www.classroominthefuture.com/that-exists/

The Dung Beetle helps us remember that out of the bad comes the good.

2.  GOOGLE FORMS   This is a must in my classroom.  It is easy.  It is fast.  All the responses are nested into a spreadsheet.  Here a  couple of new things I have taken away.  You can put conditional formatting into your response spreadsheet.  For instance:  when you have a survey of how students are doing and you ask them to rank it 0 to 5.  Then you can conditional format any cells color to be lets say RED.  That would alert you to students who have a hard time with the material.  TUTORIAL 
INSPIRED TO TRY:  Exit slips and consistent communication through Google Forms.  Also, I want to look into Move Note.  Thanks @JasonMMarkey

3.  GOOGLE DOC and GOOGLE SLIDE   If you are trying to give a document to someone else so they can use it on their own, in the url at the top of the document just change the /edit to /copy.   Tutorial   I also learned how to make a pictorial table of contents in Google.  Here is an example. Slides Thanks @jheil65

4.  PADLET.COM  Padlet is my all time favorite student interactive site.  This session confirmed that Padlet is the BEST.  Padlet is simply a public posting board that the technology doesn't get in the way.  Go to http://padlet.com and sign up today.  I have my students all have accounts too.  Thanks @HollyClarkEdu

5.  QUESTIONS.  We don't allow students to ask enough questions.  I learned a structure that will help my students to ask questions without fear.  I'm really excited to use this.  In essence, as a group of four have our students ask a lot of questions and just write them down without judgement.  Then we ranked the questions for relevance and importance independently (however, it was digitally collaborated through google docs)  Then have them rank them as a group of four.   It was an excellent process.
INSPIRED TO TRY:  I would like to begin a unit with this structure.  This will help my students to ask questions before we know anything, thus give more freedom in asking any that are coming to mind.  Presentation   Thanks @HollyClarkEdu 

6.  GOOGLE +    I signed up for google plus professionally.  It has a lot of features that are really nice.  I have more to learn.  Thanks for helping me get started @cchausis

7.  GOOGLE HANGOUTS    I learned a lot of hangout etiquette .  Most importantly, I learned how to mute when some else is talking.  I learned that Hangouts are not longer tied to Google +.  You can screen capture something for all to see for the hangout.  You can give a link from your hangout for others to join you.  Use this link to go straight to a hangout.  http://g.co/hangouts  And tons more.  More Info here. Thanks @AmplifiedIT 

8.  CHROMEBOOK SHORTCUTS:  I love shortcuts.  This one was fun.  I'm just learning my way around my new Chromebook so this was perfect timing.  Here are a few of my favorite Short-Cuts.

Screen Capture

Turn the screen 90 degrees.  This one is most helpful for teachers for when students are playing tricks on their friends.  

This opens up all the Short-Cuts.  

I took all of these shortcut images from the presentation from Adad Ocampo which was great!

8 Ways to Incorporate Empathy into Your Teaching

I read a blog post by Matt Renwick on how Empathy is the Most Critical Skill for Educators to be Highly Effective in Teaching Children.  I thought it was an excellent post.  It helped me to really think about the question of how we can really know what our students are going through.  The post also has really made me think about empathy as a skill that can be practiced and increased.   It also made me think about how I need to be diligent and work at the "Empathy Skills".  I need to take time out from my regular routine and put myself in the students world.  So I made this small list of items that I need to continue working on to help my EMPATHY SKILLS.  

1.  Shadow a Student for a Day 
This is the ultimate empathy skill builder.  This actually puts you in your students shoes for a day.  I did it last year and it was a fabulous experience that I believe I need to repeat yearly.  I changed my perspective on homework, in class movement, lecture, school furniture and more.  If you get a chance, this will change the way you look at your students.  I want to do this again this year.  Summary of my day shadowing a student in a blog post

2.  Questionnaire (Try Google Forms)
Google Forms are so easy to use. The feedback is immediate and flexible.  Overview of Google Forms  It can be anonymous or not.  Ask your students to give you honest feedback on somethings in your class like... How much time they are spending on homework.  Or you could ask about their engagement level in class.  This will give some direct feedback for where your students are in your class.  I have done this recently and it changes your perspective.  It  I make a google form and then change the name using tinyurl.com  to give it to my students See an easy video on using tinyurl with your students  See the google form questionnaire that I gave recently.

3.  Listen to the Goals Your Students Have
Give your students a chance to tell you their goals for your course.  Discuss things like homework completion, preparation for tests, class participation, and what they do when they are at an impasse with homework.     Click here to see the blog post on this    Feel free to modify this goals worksheet for your own use.

4.   Do the Homework
This seems too obvious. Take the time and do the homework as you ask them to do the homework.  With all the work shown.  This is an activity that will really help us experience what our students are experiencing.   I know that we can't always do this because it would take too much time.  Give it a try every so often.

5. Think About (Pray for ) EACH Student
This one sounds easy, but is actually difficult.  Go through your class roster, one by one, and think about each student.  Think about them as a person outside your class.  Think of them as a student inside your class. Think of their strengths and weaknesses.

6.  Call Home Early
Parents/Guardians insight is invaluable.  A quick call home early in the year or semester helps us and parents open the communication pipeline.  Also, the question "Could you give me a couple of ideas of how your child best learns?"  or  "What makes your child tick?"   or  " What are some strengths and weaknesses that your child has?"  A call home before your student actually needs a call home is the best.

7.  Look at the Records
Look at IEPs, 504s, Nurses reports, standardized tests, etc.   This seems obvious but it is our job.

8.  Find Activities that your Students are Involved In
Sports, Drama, Video Games, Church, Clubs, Collections, Music, Hobbies, etc... Go to a school activity that involves some of your students.  You will immediately get a different perspective of your student.  It is the same thing as when a student sees you in the grocery store and is so amazed that you have a life outside of school.  Anyway, it is a lot of fun to see students in their element.

Maybe you have some ideas as well?  Please share in the comments.
Best,
Dave