Fresh Ideas from TCEA

I am just back from two fabulous conferences. The first was the Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) conference in Austin, Texas. This was followed in quick order at the end of the week by the Texas Music Educators Association conference in lovely San Antonio, Texas. It was a whirlwind of a week and my mind is reeling from all the information I tried to stuff into my notes and my brain. I will begin with TCEA.

One of my goals at TCEA was to learn more about integrating the iPad in the classroom. Not just using apps for drill and kill, although those certainly have their place and there are wonderful apps out there to help students practice what they learn in games and the like. What I wanted to see was how to use the iPad and it's many apps to create lessons and products. I must commend two amazing educators, Lisa Johnson and her partner in crime, Yolanda Barker. They are the authors of a FREE book in iBooks called Hot Apps 4 HOTS. (HOTS = Higher Order Thinking Skills)

This was used for their session at TCEA and showed how apps can be used to create products and be used in lessons. Their book is set up following the different levels of Blooms with an activity including, task, apps used, directions and other resources. Even if you do not use their ideas, perhaps it will give some thought about other ways to use apps in the classroom. Lisa and Yolanda can be found on their Appy Hour radio podcast at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/search/appy-hours-4-you/

Lisa also has great tips on her blog Techchef4u. Their session probably had the most impact on me. I have shared with many teachers at my school and their ideas on how to use in their own classes is very exciting. Made my trip to Austin worthwhile!

Of course a highlight to TCEA, was being able to co-present with Carol Mayo on Mouse Mischief. Mouse Mischief (MM) has been called the "poor man's clicker" but we like to call it the "alternative student response system". Sounds fancy, doesn't it? MM is a free download from Microsoft that works through PowerPoint. Using wireless mice, it enables you to create interactive lessons in PPT where your students can work either answering individually or as a team. You don't have all the bells and whistles that you would with the popular clicker systems but for formative assessment on the quick, easy and inexpensive, this might be your answer. You can find information at Carol's site Hold the Mayo

There were many sessions that I attended and will address another great one in a subsequent posting about making book trailers.

Out like a Lion and a little Mouse Mischief

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dtchristner/

I seem to recall a phrase that if March comes in like a lamb it goes out like a lion. Not really lion-like weather but it is a rather chilly end to the month here. Feels more like fall than heralding in the warm Texas spring.

Remember that commercial where the man hits the end of the internet? I feel a bit like that today. I attended a really nice tech conference on Saturday and, other than one very cool thing (which I will review here shortly), I really didn't walk away with anything that earth shattering. Makes you think if now that we have all these amazing web 2.0 tools, just how are we going to use them that is different from all the other ways? A definite challenge. I'm weary of hearing about how "fun Wordle is" (and it is!), or "use Wallwisher as an exit ticket from your class" (would love to but it is blocked at our school) or "everyone knows about wikis"(I know, I have one!). So now what? Our challenge is take these great web tools and get our kids to do something wonderful. I still think we are too focused on teacher centered use of these tools and not enough on what can you do with your students.

Okay- so the really cool idea I did learn about:
Mouse Mischief
This is a free download from Microsoft. All you need are wireless mice and the software. Now there are a few conditions and you'll need to read about this on their site, but if you have ever wanted to use the clicker response systems in your classroom, well, well now is your chance. Someone put it as the economical clicker response system (or the poor man's crs!). One of the presenters was a first grade teacher from our diocese and her students absolutely love using Mouse Mischief. They can be used individually or as team response. So even if you can't afford enough wireless mice for a whole class set, you can buy enough to make teams and that would cut your costs considerably. Looks like a very do-able thing to do. I think I am going to recommend this to our teams at my school. I suggest if you are reading this you take a look too!