It took me a while to get excited for the 2015 edition of the MACUL Conference last week.
I've been to several during college for psychology (including presenting at two) and another for AmeriCorps last year in Lansing, and I've mostly enjoyed them every time. Conferences seem very relaxed for me--the way learning should be--and are excellent opportunities to meet other individuals who share my passions. MACUL was my first specifically about education, and was an chance to visit my favorite city on earth on a Friday.
However, I wasn't really thinking about it in the days prior; I had lessons to plan and papers to grade and another one to write. I was busy. It didn't really occur to me that I was excited to be there until I arrived.
My favorite part of the conference was the first session I went to called "Ideas for Creative Projects." The gentleman who was presenting was a "tech guy" from a school district in the Upper Peninsula who, thankfully, is not a Packers fan. He had all kinds of humorous quips throughout his presentation that made it engaging enough to sit through, but I was even more impressed with how much he was able to demonstrate in his short hour-long time slot. Whats more, he modeled how to use them and created several project examples on the spot. This guy was great.
My favorite tool he demonstrated was "ThingLink" because it is something I can really envision myself using in a history classroom. It's kind of like having students make an infograph or poster about something, but where you can actually click on parts of the image to take you to different links. He recommended using Soundcloud to create links to voice recordings about the topic. The best part was that it did not take much time at all to use.
This has been such a concern of mine throughout the year having just come from a school where most of the students could not type the amount of text in this post in less than 3 class periods, and often using a finger at a time. How could I trust students to take time messing around with digital projects? Well, ThingLink makes it easy to create the links so students can focus their time on the content rather than the technology. As we have often said in class, the goal is for the tech to be in the background--a seamless vehicle or medium through which students engage with the subject matter.
Other things I really liked at the conference was the Maker Space, which had ideas for hands on learning (including board games), and digital textbook project. Unfortunately, the latter is not fully completed yet, but the creators will be making something for high school this year. The project focuses on highlighting the voices of minorities, and looks very promising as a resource for my future classroom.
It may have taken a while for me to get excited for this conference, but I can't stop thinking about ways to apply what I've learned. I only went to a few sessions, though, so I'm even more excited by the ones I did NOT get to. The sheer number of people at the conference both attending and presenting is really encouraging as a new educator who constantly gets asked why I want to be a teacher or told "good luck" by people I respect and love. Educators who are passionate and willing to learn and improve can do anything. I'm starting to feel ready to become one.
Jimmy, my fellow tweeter at #macul15! I am glad you eventually came to understand how excited you were for the MACUL conference. My excitement was especially low when trying to find parking, but when I got inside Cobo I felt very relaxed and in the right place. I am really interested in ThingLink. Often, I have seen history teachers make students create a poster, propaganda posters are a popular one, but ThingLink sounds much more in depth. Students could create the poster and then with the link function you mention they could take the viewer to a site that explains a certain aspect of the poster. It also sounds like ThingLink could provide a unique way to cite sources. Rather than having students create a bibliography one could have students link directly to the source they where they found the cited information. I’m a little bummed out that I didn’t make it to the Maker Space because the way you describe it makes it sound pretty cool and I struggle to think of hands on activities for class. We should talk some about it next time we meet in class.
ReplyDeleteHey Jimmy, Though it may have taken a while for you to get excited, I'm glad you ultimately had a good time! It sounds like you learned some really interesting things, including about ThingLink and Makerspace. I love info graphics and posters so ThingLink sounds super useful and I will be checking it out very soon! I also like how you mention that this technology is in the background, allowing students to focus on content. This is super important and hearing you say that makes me even more excited to explore these tools. I'm curious about Makerspace, you said it involves board games, does that mean playing Monopoly or something in class? We should chat sometime! I'd love to learn more!
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ReplyDeleteHey Jimmy!
ReplyDeleteI love your enthusiasm as displayed by your enjoyment of the MACUL conference and your feeling of truly becoming an educator. I feel that as well! I wish that I had gone to the speaker that you wrote about because it seems like he talked about some of the tools that I was introduced to. During the first session I attended, the speaker went through about 50 resources but only talked about them for about 5 seconds each! I walked away feeling overwhelmed. I will have to spend an immense amount of time looking back through all the resources I was given in order to sift through them and find what works well! I'm sure that I was given a ton of great resources during this presentation, however, I much would have preferred someone showing me 1 or 2 tools that they were passionate about and used daily. This way I could have walked away having concrete ways to use these great tools. ThingLink was definitely a tool mentioned in the presentation that I saw and now I know I have to check it out!
I think it is a pretty awesome thing that right in the thick of the MAC program, despite our stress level and sleep deprivation we still have optimism and excitement for this amazing and challenging career that we have chosen to dive into. Despite what friend, family members and h8ers may say, we don't need luck, we have passion and drive to become educators who make a difference and that is what matters. Peace out.
Hey Jimmy!
ReplyDeleteI second Betsy (who I just realized posted at 6:31 this morning...?!). In our literacy class in the fall, Deanna gave us the emotional trajectory of the program. She said we will continue to go "down, down, down, down...until April" and then we would be on cloud nine and start to really feel like actual teachers. I think she was right! Even though I am still drowning in an RWT, INS2, and Shari's paper, I feel that same enthusiasm that you have been feeling since MACUL. It was a lovely day. And I'm happy you did not have an allergic reaction from accidentally eating shell fish!!!
Anyway, the presentation you saw on ThingLink sounds so cool! I am definitely going to check this out right after I finish writing this post. Starting next week, I am teaching a course titled "Literary Michigan" and I would love to use a tool like that to have students create advertisement posters for the state of Michigan as an activity to assess their prior knowledge of this state that we live in.
Thanks so much for sharing! Cheers!
Your post generated lots of enthusiastic response, Jimmy, and given the excitement that you conveyed, it isn't hard to see why.
ReplyDeleteI'll just say that I was really glad that you made it to the MakerSpace, as I was hoping that some of the MAC crew would check that out. I hope that this was the first of many MACUL Conferences that you attend, Jimmy.